Digimon: Light
by Ghoul Lancer
Summary: The digital world has been reduced to the Digital Wastes! Can the new Tamers defeat the evils of the Wastes? It gets better after the first few chapters. Please review!
1. Welcome to the Digital Wastes

Brian sat on a branch in a shady tree, the only one for miles in the Digital Wastes. It had been a long, hot day and he decided that a good rest was in order. He even played with the idea of taking a nap, but resigned to it being a bad idea. Even with his partner, Agumon above him keeping watch, and attack may be imminent. Digimon are crafty, unpredictable creatures. the tree they are in could even be a sleeping Cherrymon for all he knew.

And the Digital World is a barren, unforgiving wasteland where the impossible could happen two or three times before breakfast. If you manage to find breakfast, that is.

The Digital World wasn't always the wasteland it is now. It used to be a beautiful and diverse landscape populated by equally beautiful and diverse digimon. The world seems to change based on who is is in control, however. And at the moment, that kid is in control. The kid who travels with a DemiDevimon.

Brian never learned his name, but he has fought and lost to him three times. Three times he has had to flee and watch innocent digimon be destroyed. A warrior must know when to run. If Brian hadn't learned that, the Digital World would have nobody to stand up and fight for it against all odds.

"I wonder what He is doing right know," Brian said.

Agumon looked down and replied "Why'd you have to bring Him up? I don' teven have food to throw up this time!"

Brian laughed. "Do you ever worry about anything other than your stomach?"

"Sometimes I do!" Agumon retorted defensively. "But its been- somebody's out there!" he said surprised.

"What?"

"There's sombody out in the Wastes! A girl I think. A human girl!"

Brian reahed into his bag and grabbed a pair of binoculars before climbing up to Agumon. He looked out in the direction that Agumon was pointing, and sure enough there she was, walking in the Wastes with the sun pounding down on her.

"Does tshe have a partner?" Agumon asked.

"Not that i can see," but he could see her collapse. "Digivolve. Now!"

Agumon leapt into the air flipping. "Agumon, didivolve to-!"

There was a flash of light and Agumon disapeared. In his place was a huge orange dinosaur with a skull helmet and blue stripes. "Greymon!" the beast yelled in a much deeper voice.

Brian climbed onto Greymon's head and held on to one of his horns as the behemoth dashed towards the girl. It only took a few minutes to reach her. Brian jumped down and checked if she was alive. She was, but only barely. He picked her up and climbed back onto Greymon's head.

When they got back to the tree, Brian set her down so she wouldn't fall out. Agumon returned to his rookie level and began his watch again. Meanwhile, Brian started going through her pack.

She was certainly better packed than he was. She had candy bars, a first aid kit, toilet paper, and some other useful odds and ends. He saw a smaller pack and picked it up, but suddenly a hand tightly grabbed his wrist.

The girl was now awake again. "What are you doing?" she asked angrily.

"Checking your supplies. What's your name?" he asked handing her the last of his own water reserves.

She took it hesitantly, but then began to drink it greedily and replied, "My name is Hope." Now he began to to get a good look at her. She was very pretty. Short, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a round face. She was a bit sun burnt though. She also had a good body, which was bad because because Brian hadn't realized that he was staring.

"I'm up here, dip-wit!" she yelled.

His eyes darted back to her fce and he blushed. "My name's Brian," he said quickly. He then changed the subject. "Do you have a digivice?"

"A digi-what now?"

"Digivice. This thing." He pulled out a small white device with a blinking screen.

"No, i don't." her tone implied she didn't like him much "Why is it blinking?"

"It picked up a signal a few days ago. I'm tracking it but it keeps moving."

"Any idea what it is?" Hope asked, getting curious.

"No clue. I hope its something to help Agumon digivolve to ultimate, but i don't know what it really is."

"Digivolve?" Hope obviously had not been here long. She had no idea what it is Brian was talking about.

"It's how digimon, like my pal Agumon, become stronger. Do you even know where you are?"

"No, I don't. I recieved an E-mail yesterday and when I opened it, there was a bright light. Next thing I know, I'm laying in the dirt with some wierd cat-looking monster eating my pant leg. I found my pack and supplies in an abandoned building."

"Well in that case, we will be your welcome wagon!" Brian said.

"Welcome to..." Agumon sang, "The Digital World! Please keep all contraban to a minimum and remember, you're a guest here, so don't litter!"

Hope laughed a little at that. Brian smiled at her and she glared back.

"How do I leave?" she asked.

"Even if I knew how, you aren't going anywhere without rest." Bria told her. "The sun almost killed you today."

She didnt't like that at all and after about a half hour of argueing, Hope gave in and fell asleep on her branch.

"C'mon, Agumon. We'd better get some shut eye too." Brian told the digimon.

"Brian?" Agumon said, leanin back against the runk. "Is she coming with us?"

He hadn't thought of that. "I doubt it. You can invite her if you want, but she doesn't like me much." And he rolled over and went to sleep.

When he woke up, Brian got his stuff together, woke up Agumon, and climbed out of the tree.

"What about Hope?" Agumon asked. "We can't just leave her."

"I said you could ask her to come, but I dont think she will."

Ecstatic, Agumon climbed back up the tree to wake her. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Brian and I are leaving. I wanted to know if you wanted to travel with us."

"I don't know. Is it this world dangerous? Would it be any safer with you two?"

"The world can be dangerous and I can't guarantee it'll be any safer with us."

"How have you survived this whole time?"

"We've fought. And we win. Most of the time anyway."

She was silent for a while. "Where are you guys going?"

"Wherever the signal takes us I guess. After that we go wherever looks good..."

"I'll go wtih you guys." She said with a smile. "But the moment a way home arrives, I'm gone."

"I'm happy you're coming!" Agumon replied. "Brian will be too, I'm sure. Although he won't admit it."

"Yeah, alright." Hope said. "I will suffer his poor attitude for now. C'mon, lets get out of this tree."

"Hope gathered her things together and the pair jumped down.

" 'bout time." Brian said annoyed. "C'mon Agumon. Lets go. Adios, Hope. Pleasure meeting you!" He turned and began walking.

"I'm coming with you."

"What?" Brian cried turning back to face her.

"I'm coming too and you can't stop me."

The two glared at each ogher. Agumon looked back and forth between them before just staring at the ground.

"Alright then. But i don't babysit. I'm not responsible for you and the Digital World isn't a very safe place." Brian warned her and walked away.

"I won't be in the way." she said trailing after him.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Oh, brother." Agumon said to himself, getting behind the two. "What have I gotten into?"

Brian and Hope continued like that for another half hour before they finally stopped. A couple hours after that, his digivice began to flash and beep rapidly.

"What is it?" Hope asked him.

"The signal just got really strong," Brian reported, unclipping the digivice from his belt. "See those trees in the distance?" He pointed east towards a dark green area that looked pixelated. In the digital world, everything off in the distance is pixelated. "Its there. And its close. C'mon!"

An hour later, they reached the edge of the forest.


	2. Agumon's Tale

"Lets stop for lunch." Brian suggested. "Its been awhile since Augmon and I ate. And he probably burnt up the last of his energy rescueing you."

"I'll stay here and set up a fire, while you two go look for food." Agumon told them, already gathering firewood.

Brian and hope both sighed heavely. "Well, I guess you oughtta stick with me rather than wandering out by yourself." he said. "I'll show you whats edible. C'mon."

The two of them walked into the forest and it wasnt long before they came into a clearing. And in the clearing was a pile of edible food. Fruit and vegetables and even a whole vending maching, just sitting there in the middle. "Wow, can we really eat all of this?" Hope asked him. "I mean, its all safe to eat?"

"Yeah, it is!" Brian said amazed. But then a group of small digimon walked out of the bushes. Two in-training level Dorimon and one rookie level Dorumon.

"Aww, they are so cute!" Hope exclaimed. Then the Dorimon nearest her began to cry. And then a horrible sound drifted to their ears. The mother's roar.

"They're cute untill they become champion. Grab some food and run!" Brian yelled. They grabbed as much as they could hold and then ran as fast as they could back towards Agumon.

"Whats going on guys?" Agumon asked as they came into view.

"Just eat this and digivolve!" Brian said as he threw some food into his partner's mouth and whipped out his digivice from his belt.

"Agumon, digivolve to- Greymon!" he yelled just as the large, champion level Dorugamon bashed throught the thick net of trees, knocking several over in its wake.

Dorugamon, realizing who the real opponent was, charged full speed at Greymon and leapt into the air for an airial assault. However, Greymon was quicker and balled his clawed hand into a fist and struck the attacker in the face.

"Greymon!" Brian called. "I don't want you to hurt it too bad. It isn't evil, it's just protecting its younglings!" Then he turned to Hope and said, "Hope, get behind Greymon!"

"Don't tell me what to do! I can handle myself!"

"Oh alright then." Brian said sarcastically. "I'll just call off Greymon and you can fight the Dorugamon!"

"Shut up!" she yelled, following him to safety.

Greymon roared as he ran towards the dazed opponent. Dorugamon recovered and stood back up, launching a Power Metal attack from its mouth. Greymon dodged it and clawed back at the creature. Dorugamon managed to get out of the way and behind Greymon. He then jumped on the dinosaur's back and began biting at his neck. Greymon tried to pull him off, but Dorugamon wouldn't budge. That's when Greymon slammed his back into a tree. Now free from Dorugamon's grasp, he grabbed the tail and spun him around before pummeling Dorugamon into the ground.

Dorugamon stumbled back to its feet and looked around at everybody. It then screeched at Greymon and ran off into the forest, defeated. Greymon de-digivolved back to Agumon and sat down. Digivolving takes a lot of energy and he wasn't running on a full tank to begin with.

Brian sat down by him and gave him a noogie. The two laughed and began to eat. Hope walked over to them and sat on the other side of Agumon. "How did you two become partners?" she asked, more to Agumon than to Brian.

Agumon started, "Well, I remember one day I was outside foraging for food when I saw something crash into the ground several yards ahead of me. When I ran over to take a look, there he was in the crater unconscious. When he woke up, and I heard his voice for the first time, it felt like I'd known that voice my entire life."

"Yeah," Brian jumped in. "It was the same for me. After we got past the traditional 'ahh monster!' stuff, we got along really well. And then there was a warmth in my pocket and the digivice was there. I don't know why I have it, but it allows Agumon to digivolve. He first did it protecting me from another human running around the digital world. He also has a partner digimon, although neither of them are very nice. He too has a digivice, and when he saw I had one he challenged me and Agumon to a fight."

"We didn't have a lot of choice though," Agumon continued, "because his partner, DemiDevimon, digivolved to Devimon and began destroying everything he saw. Including the village I lived in. I lost a lot of friends that day. I think the only one I have left is Brian now. Since then we keep running into him and fighting. He wants a worthy rival and I want revenge."

"I vowed to help Agumon with that. Who else can? Besides, I don't have anything else to do here in the Digital Wastes, do I? So I won't go home until that happens. If there is a way home, that is."

"Wow," Hope said. "That sounds tough. I wish I could help..."

"Well unless you have a digimon and digivice, you can't." Brian interupted.

"Then I'll find one. Whatever it takes, I'll get what i need to survive in this world." Hope told him hotly.

"Whatever you say, cupkake." Brian said.

The trio then fell silent and finished eating their lunch. What was left they put away in their packs. Then they began walking back into the forest, making sure to stay clear of Dorugamon and its nest. When it began to get dark, they set up camp. Brian put up a tent and threw his pack in before walking over to Agumon to help stack the wood. "Pepper Breath!" Agumon cried as a small fire ball escaped his mouth and hit the teepee of wood. Hope went into the tent while they were doing that.

"Lets sharpen some sticks for roasting those fruit," Agumon Suggested. "Whaddaya say?"

"Sounds great!" Brian exclaimed. Some of the fruit that they found does actually taste better when cooked over a fire. And those were the pair'ss favorites to eat. "I'll go get my knife from my pack." Agumon stayed at the fire to get warm and Brian oepned the door to the tent.

"GET OUT!" Hope yelled at him while turning away from him. Brian quickly turned around too, realizing that she was changing her clothes, but he didn't leave.

"Can I have my bag... please?" he asked nervously.

"Here." she said holding it out behind her. Brian blindly reached behind him and his hand found the bag and grabbed it. He then quickly left before she found something else to yell at him for, and he knew she would.

"Sorry..." He said as he left.

He heard her mumble something that sounded like "As if you didn't know..." but didn't push it. When he sat back down with Agumon at the fire he grabbed three sticks from the pile of wood and began to sharpen them with his knife.

"What was the yelling about?" Agumon asked him.

"Nothing." Brian replied. "She just thinks I'm a pervert now, is all."

"Are you?" Agumon teased.

Brian smiled and poked him with a stick. "No I'm not!" he said laughing. Agumon picked up another sitck and poked him back. "Oh, is it war you want?"

"Maybe I do!" Agumon laughed and stood up. "En guarde!" he cried, holding his stick out like a sword.

"En guare yourself!" Brian cried, while slashing at him with his own sword-stick.

"I must defend the fair lady and uphold the honor of all gentlmen!" Agumon cried back while doing a dodge-roll to escape. Then he slashed back and hit Brian in the leg.

"Ow, that hurt!" Brian laughed again. "How about you uphold this!" He yelled back, doing an overhead slash. Agumon put up his stick in defense the they stood there trying to get the better of each other. Brian pushing down with his stick, and Agumon pushing back against him. Brian jumped back realizing that that wasn't working and the two just began to hit and block each each other. Then they discarded their weapons and began wrestling. They started rolling aroung in the dirt, getting different holds on each other and escaping others. Then they rolled closer to the fire and stopped at a pair of feet. Hope was standing there with her hands on her hips.

"You two are children." She said. then laughed and kicked Brian lightly in the chest. It didnt hurt but it got him off Agumon. The digimon, realizing what she was doing, quickly took the oportunity to pin Brian down on the ground.

"Alright, monster breath," Brian exclaimed. "you win. I give! Uncle!" Agumon got off of him and the two began laughing again.

"I am Agumon, and I am digimon! Nobody can best me!" He then put his hands to his mouth and breathed heavely to simulate a crowd roar.

"Now you're gloating," Brian teased. The party put fruit on their freshly carved sticks and began to roast them. Hope didn't like it too much and gave it to Agumon instead. He ate it as if he'd never seen food before. He then rolled over onto his side and fell asleep.

"Poor thing," Hope said. "That fight must've exhausted him."

"Nah, hes fine." Brian replied. "He just likes sleeping with a full stomach." He then stood up and began to walk to the tent.

"You aren't sleeping in there with me." Hope told him.

"Then don't sleep in here."

"Wrong. You are staying out here with Agumon and I'm going in there."

"You don't like me much do you?" He asked her.

"Yesterday you two saved my life, gave me the last of your water and took care of me until I recovered. However, you also went searching through my pack, pictured me naked, have been bossing me around and now you are also a peeping tom. I havent decided what I think of you yet."

"Ouch, thats not a good track record..."

"Until I have decided, I will be in the tent. Alone." she smirked and walked past him into the tent. She threw him his sleeping mat and then zipped up the door.

"Wow. Im sure I could think of a few choice words to describe her..." he grumbled.

"I heard that, Brian!" she yelled. He then unrolled his mat and fell asleep next to Agumon.


	3. A New Friend and the Face of an Enemy

Today, Brian was first one awake again. He began to pick up the campsite while the others still slept. He made sure there was no trace of the fire and he remembered to destroy the sharpened sticks and scatter the wood pile so it looked otherwise undisturbed. When he was all done with that, he woke Agumon and had him wake up Hope. She liked him for sure at least. When everyone was dressed, they put away the tent and mats and put it all back into the packs. Then they erased their footprints and left in the direction of the mysterious signal again.

About midday, Hope spoke up. "Does your digivice tell you how far away it is? Or just the direction?"

"Just the direction until its within about two-hundred yards range. Until then it's just direction." then suddenly his digivice made an alert sound. "Wait, it just got in range to see location!"

"Really?" Agumon looked up. "That's amazing! We're finally close to it!"

"Two-hundred yards out, huh?" Hope said. "Alright then, let's pick up the pace! You said it's, moving right? So we'd better get going."

Brian nodded his agreement and they started walking faster in he direction of the signal. Now he could actually see the pattern of the path that the signal was moving in. It wasnt moving away from them, it was moving too north to know it was moving away from them specifically. But it was moving, and fast too.

"I wonder where it's going to?" Hope said curiously.

"Or from. If it's a creature it might be running from something. I think we should avoid the south lands for a while, don't you?" Brian replied.

A few hours later they found that they were right on top of it. "Through those bushes, I believe." Brian whispered while they knelt down. "I'll go first with Agumon and decide if its dangerous. Then you-"

"I'm not staying behind." Hope interrupted. "I'm going too. Remember, you guys invited me along. I didn't ask."

"Actually, only Agumon asked." Brian whispered back. "I would rather work alone."

"Fine!" Hope said back. "Then if I'm not actually part of the group, then you won't mind if I just do this." Then she stood up and walked out through the bushes. Brian tried to grab her arm and stop her but he missed.

"Way to go, Brian!" Agumon said. "It might be dangerous over there."

"I know..." Brian growled as he rushed in after her, Agumon trailing behind. "Hope! You can't just run out here! There might be-"

"Absolutely nothing." Hope finished. She was right. the clearing was completely empty except for the three. Brian checked his digivice again. It said that the signal was right here, and strong too.

"Stupid thing msut be broken..." Brian said depressed. "What if we've been following a false signal the whole time? I'm sorry Agumon..."

"Wait what was that?" Agumon said, looking past Brian and Hope and into the trees. The other two turned around and looked.

"I don't see anything..." Hope said.

Then Agumon turned right and yelled "There it is again! something's here with us. I keep seeing a shadow moving through the trees."

They stood there silent for a moment, waiting for the attack. But it never came. Instead they heard a small voice say, "Go away Hope. Get out of the Digital World! Its dangerous for you here. There are forces beyond any control that want to hurt you!"

"Who are you?" Hope called back. "How do you know me? What danger? Who'd want to hurt me?"

"It doesnt matter who I am... just heed my warning... please..." the voice said back.

"Come out now, please." Agumon cried. "We won't hurt you."

"Yeah," Brian said too, "We just want to talk."

They heard they voice mumble "... I'm going to regret this later... I just know it." Then a small, white cat creature jumped out of a tree behind Brian. Everyone turned to face her. "Well, here I am. My name is Gatomon."

"That's the creature that I woke up next too!" Hope cried out. "The one I told you was caught on my pant leg."

"I'm sorry about that... I got my claw stuck on your pants when I was trying to escape from you..."

"Why were you excaping from me?" Hope questioned.

"Because... because I stole your digivice." she said, holding out her paw and revealing a small white digivice. "I thought that if they didn't see you with a digivice they wouldn't hurt you... and then I tried to get far, far away so that nothing bad would happen to you... my partner..."

"Your... partner?" Brian said surprised. "You are Hope's partner digimon!"

Gatomon nodded slowly. "I suppose you'll be wanting this back now, huh..." She said to Hope and throwing her the digivice. Then she began to walk back ino the forest.

"Wait!" Hope called after her. "Won't you stay? Please stay here. We are partners. We are supposed to be together, just like Brian and Agumon!"

"You mean, you aren't mad at me?" Gatomon's ears stood up and she turned around.

"No, I can't be mad at you." Hope walked over to her and knelt down beside her. "We have to be friends. And it wouldn't work if I was mad at you during our first real meeting." Gatomon was totally surprised. And she got even more surprised when Hope hugged her. When she let go, Hope started speaking again. "Now, maybe you can tell me what forces want to hurt me?"

"Do you mind if I get some food and sleep first?" Gatomon asked. "Ive been running straight ever since I got away from you. It's been a while since I've eaten and even longer since I rested."

"I'm sure that'd be fine." Brian said. "Right Hope?"

"Well of course it is!" Hope shot back. "You can be in the tent with me, Gatomon." She two girls smiled and each other.

"Well, then in that case," Brian began taking the tent out of his pack and tossing it to her, "you can set it up." He then turned around and went with Agumon to search for fire wood. Gatomon stuck her tongue out at him and made a face behind his back. When they were out of sight, the girls began to set up the tent, and they were done before the other two got back. Gatomon immediately walked in and went to sleep. "I'll eat when I get up in the morning..." she told Hope with a yawn.

That night, everyone slept well, except Brian. He stayed awake for several hours. He had a gut feeling that something bad was on its way. And for some reason Hope is more involved than any of them realize. The recent events have greatly disturbed him. And it disturbed him more that he was the only one disturbed about them.

This time, Brian was last to wake up. He finally managed to get a few hours sleep, but he was still exhausted.

"Well, its about time, sleepy head!" Agumon said to him. "We were just about to wake you up. These two here have been waiting to talk about the danger that threatens Hope. But I wouldnt let them until you woke up to hear it too."

"Thank you, Agumon." Brian said. "Now what is going on here, Gatomon?"

"Well it all started when that boy first came to the Wastes." She started.

"Who?" Hope asked. "Brian?"

"No," gatomon continued. "Nobody knows his name. But he's partnered with a DemiDevimon. Please don't interrupt me again. This will go a lot simpler without me pausing to answer every question. Now, where was I? Oh yes, the boy. He and his digimon have been running all over the Digital Wastes looking for 'a blonde girl with a digivice'. He said that anybody who helped him in his search would be spared. When I refused, the boy told his Devimon to destroy me. But then out of nowhere, this woman appeared. Immediatly the boy and his digimon knelt before her. She said that her name was LadyDevimon and that she was queen of the Digital Wastes. She also said that I was a partner digimon to a girl named Hope. She said that I would lead them to you whether I wanted to or not because meeting you was fate. I don't know why she wants you, but she locked m up in a prison guarded by a Starmon. He didn't like helping her, he said, but it was better than being destroyed. Can you blame him? So I was locked up there for weeks waiting for my chane to escape. And when I finally did, I got lost out in the Wastes. Thats when I found you, Hope. I knew that you were the one they were talking about. So I reached into your pocket and grabbed your digivice. I've been running ever since. Sometimes I look up into the sky and I see a dark figure. I think he has his Devimon sarching for me... and you for that matter, Hope." she finished looking down at the ground.

"So a crazy psychopath and her pets want Hope for no apparent reason," Brian spoke, "and now Agumon and I have been dragged into it."

"Then leave us alone if you don't want a part of it." Hope snapped at him.

"I didnt say that." Brian replied calmly. "You remember when you said youd help Agumon and I get revenge for what he did to Agumon's village, right? Well now our goals coincide. We both have to defeat that kid, and now LadyDevimon. Or we can run away and watch the entire Digital World turn into the Digital Wastes. What do you say? Do you fight with me?"

When he was done speaking Agumon stood up and nodded. Then Gatomon did the same.

"What do you say Hope?" Brian asked her again. "Do you want to travel with us a little longer?"

Then she stood up with the rest of them, looked Brian straight in the eye and said "I did say I wanted to help. Now I have a partner and a digivice, just like you. I'm in!"

The others then cheered their happiness. "Just one problem though," Agumon said. "Where do we go from here?"

"We could go back to the village that I was captured in..." Gatomon suggested. "Maybe the boy is there. Or maybe there is someone who can tell us where they went."

"Well where is this village?" Hope asked.

"Back southeast. A few miles from where I found you the first time. We have to go back into the Wastes."

"Well, I have an idea," Brian said. "Before we go off that way, we need to find some water and refill the cantines."

Agumon then spoke to Gatomon. "Do you know where we can get some in this forest?"

"I smelt some earlier." she replied. "If we back track the way I came, I could probably find it again."

"Alright, let's go then!" Hope cried. "Lead the way, partner!"

Gatomon began walking in off into the forest. "It's back over this way. C'mon."

The group began moving back south now with Gatomon in the front, Hope right behind her, and Brian and Agumon picking up the rear. Those two were goofing off the whole time. Punching each other, making bad jokes, that sort of thing. Once, Brian tripped Agumon and when he hit the ground he belched fire, lighting Hope's pant leg. She wasn't at all happy and started yelling at the two (nostly Brian) for their childish behavior. She was just mad that her pants where on fire though.

"She'll get over it." Brian whispered to Agumon.

"I dunno, Brian," he whispered back. "She really doesn't like you."

"Yeah, she has a list of all the reasons why too. This one is probably near the top." Brian said, poking him.

"I dunno," Agumon said, poking back. "You've done a lot of things she doesn't like."

"True enough."

"Maybe you should ask her about her list?"

"Umm... no I'd rather not, actually." Brian replied. "Who knows how she's twisted everything? You should do it."

"You know what? I'm going to stay off her bad side actually." Agumon said, glancing at her in fear. "No sense in us both being on her lists..."

"We can hear you, you know." Gatomon informed them. Brian and Agumon stood up straight and began making up things that rhymed wtih what they had said. It didn't go too well and they instead just fell silent.

After a few more hours of walking, Gatomon's ears rose up and she began to sniff the air.

"What is it, Gatomon?" Hope asked. "Do you smell the water?"

"Yeah, i do! It's over there. Maybe another half mile."

They then continued in the direction that Gatomon had indicated and they reached it in no time flat.

"Water!" Brian cried. "Beautiful, beautiful water!"

"The life energy of all that lives!" Agumon cried with him. and the two quickly ran over to the waters edge and stuck their faces in, drinking as much as they could. Gatomon tugged at Hopes shirt and then pointed at the two boys. Hope nodded and then they both walked over behind Brian and Agumon. Hope put up three fingers for Gatomon to see, and put them down one at a time. When the countdown was done they lifted their legs behind them and they each kicked one of the boys hard in the butt, knocking them into the water.

"Hey, what was that for?" Brian asked when he surfaced.

"It looked like a good idea at the time." Hope smiled. Brian splashed her and she screamed in surprise. "Serves you right!" Brian laughed.

Hope reached down into the water to splash him back when they heard a voice behind them from the other side of the river. "eh-hem." he said. Everyone there turned around to look at the intruder. It was Him. "Brian, Agumon, we meet again. And who is this fine specimen?" he had black, shoulder length hair and cold eyes. His DemiDevimon sat on his shoulder. The two together looked evil and demonic.

"Thats none of your business." Brian said coldly after he and Agumon climbed back onto the bank. He then pulled out his digivice. "Well, are you here to fight me again? Because this time I'm ready!"

"Thats all very sweet now, Brian. But it's rude not to introduce me to your new friend." The boy began to walk across a log to their side of the river. He walked over to Hope and held out his hand. "Please, I'd love to get to know you."

She just stared at his hand. "Leave her alone!" Gatomon said.

"Ah, you have a digimon!" the boy said putting his hand down. "Then you must be Hope." She nodded. "I must say, I never thought even the Light herself could look so beautiful. You are indeed stunning." He then bowed and continued, "My name is Billy, at your service."

"Yes... a pleasure indeed." Hope said sarcastically. "Gatomon, help..."

"Now, now Hope, theres no need for hostilities, is there?" the boy, Billy told her. "I want you to come with me, please. We could rule this world together. I will be king, and you my queen."

"That is so cliche'." Brian interrupted. "Agumon! Digivolve!"

"Oh, are you still here, Brian?" Billy asked rudely. "Well I only came here for the girl, but if you must fight, then we shall." the boy pulled out his own digivice, black as his heart. The screen began to glow and DemiDevimon digivolved to Devimon. Greymon positioned himself away from the humans and roared at Devimon.

"I'm sorry," Hope tol him. "But i'm going to have to decline your offer."

"What?" Billy asked her. "You dare defy me? Your king? You will come with me whether you want to or not. LadyDevimon has commanded it!"

"No way am I gonna let you take Hope!" Gatomon told him. "Lightning Paw!" she yelled, punching Billy in the face and knocking him over.

Meanwhile, Greymon and Devimon were fighting together. Greymon unleashed a Nova Blast at Devimon, striking him right in the chest. He then charged and grabbed Devimon by the head and slammed him into the ground. But Devimon quickly got back up and unleashed a Razor Wing attack that knocked Greymon back into the trees. Devimon took adavantage of it and quickly came upon Greymon. He grabbed the dinosaur's nose horn and used great strength to throw him into the water. Greymon sank to the bottom where he mananged to stand and launch himself back to the surface. He threw another Nova Blast at the fallen angel, who blocked it with a slash of his clawed hand. Greymon landed back on the opposite bank and continued to throw Nova Blast after Nova Blast at Devimon. Devimon blocked or dodged all of them and attacked with another Razor Wing, which Greymon avoided.

Then Gatomon jumped into the fight, attacking the unsuspecting Devimon with a Lightning Paw attack. He was knocked out of the air and landed by Greymon, who quickly put his foot down on his opponent. As Greymon attempted to crush him, Devimon tried to push the foot off of his chest, but his attempts were futile as Gatomon attacked his face with a volley of Lightning Punches. Devimon used a Death Claw attack and thrusted his arm into the ground which rematerialized behind Gatomon and grabbed her by the head. He then threw her into a few trees. When he pulled his arm back he managed to summon the strength to push Greymon off of him.

"Let's go, Devimon." Billy said to his digimon. "We will come back for her another day." The Devimon flew to where Billy stood and picked him up. They then flew off into the west. "Good bye, Brian. May we meet again. And, Hope, you will be my bride. One day. But untill then, I have work to do." And then they were gone.

"What a freak." Hope said as Greymon turned back into Agumon and the two digimon retunred to their partners sides.

"I'd bet six of my lives that we havent seen the last of him." Gatomon said.

"At least if you lost that bet youd still have four more!" Agumon exclaimed.

"Cats have nine lives, dork." Brian said to him. He then turned to Hope and said, "I wonder what he meant when he called you the Light. And why does LadyDevimon want you so bad?"

"I don't know." Hope said. "I haven't even been here a week yet and I've had several life threatening experiences, an evil entity who wants me imprisoned, and a wedding proposal."

"You seem to like lists..." Brian said to her.

"And what if I do?"

"Oh nothing. It's just that nothing gets by you."

"Yeah, nothing does. So don't mess with me, you hear?"

"How couldn't I hear? Your yelling could wake up a Rockmon."

She pucnhed him in the arm. "I don't yell!"

"Maybe we should go now..." Agumon suggested.

"Where should we go?" Gatomon asked.

"We can't stay here." Brian said. "Now they know where we are. They'd expect us to go deeper into the forest because its one of the last sanctuaries of the Digital World. I think we have to go back to the Wastes. Maybe we can find out the location of LadyDevimon's secret lair from some of the Wasteladers."

The other three agreed and they filled up their cantines and continued on their way south.

Once they broke a few miles past the forest edge they decided to make camp for the night. Hope and Gatomon slept in the tent and made Agumon and Brian sleep outside again. It rained that night. But Brian took it like a man and didn't complain at all. Agumon couldn't say the same.

He stood at the tent door yelling "Let us in! We havent done anything to deserve this treatment!"

"I want Brian to apologize for all of the rude things he's done to me first." Hope replied back.

Agumon shot a pleading look at Brian who simply said, "Nah, I don't really think I've done anything wrong on account of I've saved your life plenty of times as it is."

"Then you stay out in the rain!" Gatomon sang. Agumon lost it and fell to his knees pounding on the tent. A little while after that, he gave up and fell asleep next to Brian. When they woke up the next morning, the ground was still wet and Brian and Agumon were muddy. and they were surrounded by a group of Numemon. There must have been thousands of them.


	4. The Numemon

"You must help us!" the green slug closest to Brian excliamed. "Our village is under attack!"

"Whoa, hold on a sec." Brian said to them. "How about you slow down and explain what's going on?"

"A group of Goblimon lead by an Ogremon came to our village looking for a human girl that they called the Light. They said her name was Hope and that she would have a digivice with her. They said that if we don't tell them where she is they would destroy our village and evyone in it! When we said we didn't know where she was, Ogremon destroyed a few of our number. It wasn't much, but we got the point. They left and said they'd be back in two days. That's tomorrow! Please help us!"

"I'll be right back." Brian told them. "I have to talk to somebody first... Agumon, you stay here and... I dunno. Entertain them."

"Well, how do I do that?" He asked.

"I haven't a clue." Brian shrugged. "You're a smart digimon though. Figure something out." and he closed his eyes and quickly walked into the tent and shut the door before they say who was inside. "Hope," he whispered, "Are you decent?"

"Yeah I am." She replied half asleep. "What's all the noise out there? And why are you whispering?"

"Thanks for asking if I'm decent..." Gatomon said to him with her eyes still closed.

"You don't wear clothes." Brian reminded her. "Anyway, our campsite is overrun by a sluglike digimon called Numemon. They are fleeing their village that is under attack by an Ogremon and his Goblimon minions. They want our help."

"So why aren't we already on our way?" Hope said, sitting up. "Let's go kick some butt!"

"Keep quiet!" Brian told her. "They are looking for you. The Ogremon told them to hand you over or they'll destroy the village. They've already killed a few of the Numemon."

"They sound like a bunch of bullies!" Gatomon cried. Brian made some more hushing sounds and waved his arms a bit too.

"Yeah they do!" hope agreed. "Well, I'm not gonna let them push people around becase of me. C'mon, Gatomon, let's go!"

Gatomon nodded and the two pushed Brian aside and went out of the tent. "Wait!" Brian called after her. "You can't just go out there!" he ran out after her. Agumon was playing Hangman in the dirt with the Numemon. When Hope, Brian, and Gatomon came out the Numemon all turned and stared at her.

"Ok," Agumon was saying. "If you miss one more thats Hangman and I win! guys? Hello? Oh, Brian's back. Hello."

"It's the Light!" one of the Numemon said.

"Are you sure?" another asked.

"She's gotta be! Just look at her!" still another said.

"Does she have a digivice?" one in the back yelled.

"Let's find out!" the one right next to her said. It then jumped onto her. Hope immediately punched him in the eye and he fell off unconscious. Then a few more jumped on her and she and Gatomon began punching them all. Brian and Agumon started punching them off of her too but they soon overwhelmed them. All four of them were knocked over and tied up. Most of the Numemon backed off then. One started searching through Hopes pockets though and they found her digivice.

"I found it!" It called out to the others. "She is the Light!"

"What should we do with her?" another asked.

"We should take her back to the Ogremon! That's what!"

"What should we do with the other three?"

"Well, one of the digimon has to be her partner. We'll take them too."

"And the human boy?"

"Eh, whatever. might as well take him too." The Numemon then helped each other pick up the four prisoners and then carry them off into the Digital Wastes.

Hope and Gatomon yelled at them the entire time and even managed to kick a few. They became so out of control that the Numemon eventually put a gag in their mouths and dragged them behind the herd. Brian managed to retrieve his digivice from out of his pocket, but he couldn't get Agumon to dgiviolve because the digimon hadn't eaten yet and was low on energy. The Numemon caught on to what he was doing, so they gagged his mouth too and threw him and Agumon on the ground and dragged them too.

When they finally reached the Numemon village the next day, the four were thrown into a cage in the basement of one of the houses there. Their digivices, bags, and other confiscated supplies were placed on a table, out of reach of the caged prisoners.

As soon as all the Numemon had vacated the small dark room, Agumon used a Pepper Breath attack on the ropes that bound his arms to his side. the ropes burned and he was free to claw at the ropes binding his legs together. "Ah, fantastic, Agumon!" Brian cried. "Now get me out of mine!"

As Agumon did as he was told, Hope asked, "If you could just do that the whole time, why didn't you do that when they first tied us up?"

"I couldn't fight them off," Agumon told her, "and I was already laying down. We had no chance of escape with the Numemon swarmed on us like that." Agumon finished clawing Brian free and they helped the two girls get free, Agumon clawing at Gatomon's ropes, Brian untieing Hopes.

"Thanks," Hope told him once she was free. "now, how do we get out of this cage?"

Brian immediately began searching for loose bars. Gatomon studied the lock. Hope tried thinking of ways to get the digivices with what was left of the ropes. Agumon tried digging his way out. "Thats a concrete floor, Agumon," Brian informed him.

"I know..." Agumon said as he fell down defeated. "I thought It'd be worth a try. But all I managed to do was chip a claw..."

"Yeah there aren't any loose bars either," Brian announced.

"The ropes aren't long enough to reach our supplies..." Hop told them.

"Well, I suppose that some of us are jsut more talented than others." Gatomon told them as she stood by and open cage door, twirling the lock on ther fingres. She had picked the lock with her claw. "Small claws have their advantages over your meat cleavers, Agumon," she said to the other digimon as she stuck out her tongue at him.

Hope laughed and said to Brian, "What'd you do, oh, brilliant leader?" then she too, stuck her tongue out and then hugged Gatomon.

"Quit fooling around, lets grab our stuff and get out!" Brian suggested.

"Yes, of course, oh, commanding one!" Hope and Gatomon said at the same time.

Brian made a few strangled, grumbling noises as he grabbed his pack and filled it back up with his stuff. He took out some of the food and handed it to their digimon. "All better?" he asked them. the two nodded. They should now be able to digivolve if they had too. "I think we should try sneaking out, so only digivolve if we absolutley have to, ok?" they nodded again and the party made their way to the door.

They opened the door to find that the house was guarded by two Numemon, frozen in fear that their prisoners had and Gatomon quickly knocked them out before they could come to their senses and call for help. When they left the building, they realized that it was already dark. They could use that to their advantage as they escaped.

"Stick to the shadows," Brian told them. "Use the darkness to hide." They had almost gotten out of the village without any problems when all of a sudden, they started hearing yelling and pleading.

"Where, is the Light?" one voice said.

"I swear, the humans were right here!" a voice that sounded like a Numemon replied.

"I told you," the first voice said, "that if iI came here today, and you did not give us the Light, you would pay dearly for it. Didn't I?"

"Yes! Yes you did!" the Numemon said in fear. "But we had her! The Light was here!"

"Well she isn't now. Wreak the place, Goblimon." The first voice commanded.

"We gotta help them!" Hope said.

"Why would we help them?" Brian asked her. "They bound us up and dragged us through miles of Wastes just so they can trade you for their own selfish lives. My vote is we leave them."

Hope then hit him. Hard. "If you won't help me, then Gatomon and I will do it outselves." So she and her digimon ran off into the village by themselves.

"We are going after them, aren't we?" Agumon asked him.

"She really needs to stop running off like that..." Brian replied as he ran after them.

They returned to see that the cell and surrounding buildings were completely in ruin. The three Goblimon were wreaking the entire plece and there was a large Ogremon standing in the center, laughing. "That laugh..." Hope said when Brian caught up with her. "It's so... evil."

"Yeah. And that's why we have to stop him right?" Brian said putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah it is." She said back to him with a smile.

"Agumon, you know what to do." Brian said.

"Right," he replied back as he digivolve to Greymon. The giant dinosaur quickly gained the attention of the Goblimon and the Ogremon.

"What's this?" the Ogremon said as he turned around. Then he noticed Hope and said, "It's the Light! Goblimon! Get them!" the three Goblimon quicky jumped in front of the four as Greymon walked past Hope and Brian, readying himself for battle. Gatomon stapped in right by his side. All three Goblimon attacked with Gobli Bombs. They had poor aim though and it was easy for Greymon and Gatomon to dodge the attacks. Greymon attacked one with a Nova Blast and the Goblimon instantly disintegrated to data. Gatomon disintegrated another with her Lightning Paw attack. The third Goblimon went into a berserk mode and ran at Greymon with a Gobli Strike attack, but was quickly thwarted with a heavy kick to the ribs. The Goblimon flew through the air and hit the half destroyed wall of a ruined building.

"You three were useless." the Ogremon told him. "Bone Cudgel!" He cried as he whacked the Goblimon with his club. The Goblimon disintegrated into data along with the other two. Now all that stood to oppose Greymon and Gatomon was Ogremon. The large green digimon turned to face his opponents. "So, you think you're tough, huh? Well, I'll show you tough!Over Lord Fist!" he cried as a few volleys of dark energy was realesed from an outstretched arm. The dark balls hit Greymon, but Gatomon's cat-like agility allowed her to evade.

Gatomon attacked with a Lightning Paw attack and knocked the bone club out of his hands. As Greymon ragained his balance, he launched another Nova Blast and hit Ogremon right in the chest. He was thrown over a fire and into the ruble of another building. He got up and began to run away, leaving his club behind. "You havent seen the last of me! I will capture the Light and gain Billy's favor! You'll see!" and then he ran off into the Wastelands.

The Numemon were greatful to the four for helping them save thier village. They Hung Ogremon's Bone Club on the wall of their Great Hall and the drew crude pictures of Brian, Hope, and their digimon around it. The Numemon allowed them to stay the night in and empty house (Hope did not make Brian sleep outside that night). When the heroes left the next morning, the Numemon chanted 'All hail the Light! and a few in the back even added 'And Brian too!', but those chants went largely unnoticed.


	5. Ultimate

Since then, Brian, Hope, Gatomon, and Agumon had been traveling through the Wastes looking for any lead to where LadyDevimon might be found. Hope and Gatomon reluctantly agreed to wait outside of the villages and other settlements that they found. Brian and Agumon restocked their supplies at each stop but never gained any leads other than Billy had been to each one requesting "Hope the Light" be handed over to him immediately.

"I'm sick of waiting around while you go off into the villages!" Hope was irritated at Brian more than usual today. It was his turn to cook and her food wasnt done all the way. "It isn't fair that Gatomon and I dont get to do anythig. We can handle ourselves, you know!"

"I don't have much of a problem with it." Gatomon said her input. "It gives me some extra time for a cat-nap." she finished with a yawn.

"Well, if you went with us," Brian explained, "We'd have a repeat of the Numemon village every time... I dont know about you, but im not a fan of being held prisoner in the dungeon of a smelly house."

"We would let you come if we didn't think you would be in danger," Agumon said with a mouth full. He swallowed and continued, "but if you were there it'd cause unnecessary risk for all of us. We do it because we don't want you to get hurt."

Hope finished her food and stormed off to bed, Gatomon trailing behind. "Would you mind tossing us our sleeping mats please?" Brian added after her. Soon after two rolled up mats came hurtling out of the tent and almost hit Brian in the face. He dodged them just in time. The next morning Brian woke everybody up and they cleaned up the campsite and continued to wander through the Digital Wastes. They went all day long without even a trace of another digimon. The whole day, something didn't feel right to Brian. He didn't say anything about it though because there wasnt anyhing that he could see that really made him think that. It was just a feeling. Like he was strangely alone, and yet at the same time as though something was watching him. But he was in a wasteland. He could see in any direction for miles and there was nothing out there.

That night they all sat around the fire eating and laughing. Hope had regained some joy and even smiled at Brian once or twice. And Brian even felt in a good enough mood to return that smile. Then all of a sudden, it got very dark. An unnatural darkness that seemed to pierce the very soul. It was evil. The air seemed to drop several degrees. Hope hugged herself for warmth and Agumon sat closer to Gatomon. Brian stood up and began shivering. "Something isn't right..." Brian said as he pulled out his digivice. "Where are you?" he called out into the darkness. He could see everone in the campsite clearly but anything a few feet farther out was just pitch blackness.

Suddenly he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. He quickly turned around but there was nothing there. "Whats the matter Brian?" a mysterious voice said. Brian turned around again looking for the voice. Hope was standing up too. Agumon and Gatomon Leapt up into battle positions. "Are you seeing ghosts?" the voice continued. "Or perhaps the devil himself is here to collect your soul!" At that a strange creature leapt out of the darkness and attacked Brian, knocking him into the tent, collapsing it. As he got the tent off of him, Brian was pulled up by the arms by a pair of Bakemon. As he looked around he noticed that the digimon were also strugling to free themselves from the Bakemon's grasps. Hope was being held by the mysterious creature that lunged at Brian. Brian, who was still holding his digivice, quickly made Agumon Digivolve to Greymon. The hulking dinosaur fought off as many as he could, even knocking the ones off of Gatomon, who attacked the creature holding Hope with several Lightning Paw attacks. When she was free, Greymon finally managed to break away from his fight and claw at the ones holding Brian. Once let go, Brian fell to the ground landing hard on his knees. All four of them quickly rushed to the center. They were surrounded by the Bakemon and the new enemy digimon. There was no way of fighting them all off, and that new digimon looked really tough.

"What should we do?" Greymon asked

"What we always do of course." Brian replied.

"Improvise and hope it works out?" Gatomon asked.

"Or just find a nice little way to screw up." Hope joked.

"Now, now, Hope," the voice from inside the darkness said. "Theres no need to be rude, even if it is to that neanderthal." At that moment Billy walked out of the darkness, the black mist swirling around him and gently licking his features as if to call him back where he belongs. He held a large broadsword in his hands. When Brian got to looking at it, Billy's digivice has inlaid into the guard. On the reverse side was a glowing blue symbol that looked like a yin-yang symbol with wings.

"I should have known it was you." Brian said nastily. "What do you want?"

"I think that should be obvious." he replied with a sneer. "Am i wrong? Oh, very well. I suppose I cant have expected any different from you, Brian. I'm here for the Light. Have you reconsidered your position on the matter, Hope? I'd rather not take you by force. I dont want my queen to dislike me on our honeymoon."

"You're sick." Hope said. "You're a pathetic little boy on a power trip. I'd rather deal with a thousand Brians than even one of you."

"So be it." Billy replied coldly. "Have you been introduced to my new friend by the way?" he gestured at the strange digimon. "Devimon got an upgrade."

"You dont mean...?" Brian said shocked. It just wasnt possible. It was too hard to believe.

Billy allowed a sneer to show across his face. He was obviously enjoying Brian's shock. "Yes, thats right. My digimon has done what yours could not. I can digivolve to Ultimate! This is NeoDevimon, and he will be your destruction." He then pointed at Greymon and NeoDevimon leapt up into the air, and flew at the dinosaur. NeoDevimon clawed at Greymon before he could react. Greymon fell over without a fight and dedigivolved back to Agumon.

"Agumon!" Brian cried out to his friend, but the digimon was unconscious and couldnt hear him. Then Gatomon, who had snuck behind NeoDevimon during the attack, launched herself at him and attacked with a Lightning Paw attack. However he must have sensed her because he quickly turned around and struck her down. Gatomon fell to the ground with much force and dedigivolved to Salamon. The NeoDevimon then flew back down and landed next to its partner. Billys face only contorted into a more evil smile. Hope ran over to her fallen partner and gently scooped her up in her arms.

"And now you will come with me, Hope." Billy announced.

"No, I won't." She replied. "Not after what you've done. You've hurt my friends, destroyed the Digital World and turned it into the Digital Wastes. You're an evil person and I want nothing to do with you. I want you dead."

Billy then began to walk over to her, but Brian ran in front of his path. "You wont take her." He said. "Shes my friend. It might not always look like it, but she means a lot to me. I wont let you take her."

Quick as lightning, NeoDevimon charged and knocked Brian out of the way with a side swipe. He then flew over to where Brian lay and picked him up and rose high into the sky and dropped him. It wasnt enough to kill him but it did hurt a lot. As Brian tried to get back up, NeoDevimon flew back over and raised him off the ground just a little. Then Billy walked over and punched him in the gut. Brian cried out in pain. Billy just laughed and punched him again. Brian couldn't do anything about it as NeoDevimon's claws dug ito his arms, blood running out of where the points had pierced his skin.

"Brian!" Hope screamed. She put down Salamon and ran over to try to tackle Billy, but a Bakemon knocked her down. Billy punched Brian again before walking over to Hope. As she got up he grabbed a hold of her and she struggled to get away.

"Leave her alone!" Brian yelled as he spit out blood.

"Never. Shes mine." Billy said. Hope then bit his hand really hard and he let her go so he could tend to his injured hand.

"Hope! Run!" Brian told her.

"NeoDevimon! Grab her!" Billy yelled as he craddled his now bleeding hand. NeoDevimon allowed Brian to drop to the ground, where he landed hard on his face. The digimon then flew towards Hope and stopped in front of her, ready to subdue its prey. She quickly hit it across the face as had as she could. NeoDevimons face and neck twisted in a sickening and unnatural way, but it just turned its head back towards her as if nothing had happened. It then grabbed her and flew her high up into the sky. She didn't dare try anything up there. If the digimon dropped her she'd die for sure. As Brian struggled to get up, Billy walked over to where he lay and kicked him hard in the ribs. "You deserve what you've got." Billy told him. Two Bakemon grabbed Billy and he flew off with NeoDevimon carrying Hope.

"No..." Brian murmered weakly. "No... you can't take her. NOOO!" he stood up and ran after them. He ran for as long and as fast as he could. He wasn't going to let them get away that easily. She just couldn't be gone. They'd only just met. He ran, and he ran, and he ran. He didn't know how long he ran, or how far. But it didn't matter. He didn't care. Time didn't matter anymore. All he cared about was Hope. And then, just as Billy, and NeoDevimon, and Hope, and the Bakemon were disapearing in the horizon, Brian collapsed. He tried to keep going. He tried to get up. He tried to crawl after them. But when he couldnt'go on anymore, he just fell. He became unconscious.

"You didn't have to beat him like that." Hope told Billy the next night. After being kidnapped, the NeoDevimon and Bakemon flew them several miles towards the south. It was in a small area out in the Digital Wastes that they had made camp for the night. The surrounding area looked exactly the same as the rest of the Wastes. However, it somehow seemed to be emptier without the rest of her friends. What was Gatomon going through at the moment? Was she even alive? Would Hope ever get to see her again? What about Agumon? Was he ok? She liked Agumon and was very worried about him. Almost as worried about him as she was worried about Gatomon. Agumon had a childish charm about him that Hope enjoyed. It was a refreshing respite from the seriousness that had been thrust upon her life.

"Why do you think about him?" Billy asked her. Hope was woken from her thoughts with a jolt. Her mind then drifted to Brian. Why did she care about him at all? Were they even friends? He was rude and obnoxious. He only cared about himself and how he was going to survive the next challenge. And yet he tried protecting her last night. Was that just him being the hero as usual? Or was it something more? "Brian is a nobody." Billy told her. "He looses his battles to me. He's weak. I am strong. I win my battles. And yet you still won't love me. Why not? Hope stayed silent for a while.

When she spoke, her voice was hoarse from last night's yelling. "You're evil. You're a bad person. All you do is torture innocent digimon and rampage from town to town destroying things. Look around you, Billy. Look and see what you've turned the Digital World into. It's a wasteland. It's barren and useless just like your heart."

"Is that all?" He asked her. She nodded.

"Why do ya even care abou' this broad, eh Billy?" DemiDevimon asked as he flew down from his lookout in the sky. "From the looks o' 'er, she seems tuh be tuh much trouble fer the effort, dontcha think?" He shot her a nasty look. "An' when can we be rid o' those there Bakemon, eh? They give me the heebee jeebies, ya know?"

"Shut up DemiDevimon." Billy told him with a glare. "I don't need you to tell me how to do my job."

"Las' time I checked, yer job was tuh take this here broad back tuh her highness, LadyDevimon. An' then yous twos will git hitched and rule the Digi Werld. I don't think shes required tuh like ya."

"We'd have a much more enjoyable life together if she did like me, though." Billy replied. He then looked at Hope and asked. "You do want to be happy right?"

"I'd be happier with Brian." She said instinctually. Then after realizing what it was that came out of her mouth she quickly added, "And by that I mean simply away from you."

"What do you see in him?" Billy asked.

"Its not like that. We're just friends is all. So far all you've done is kidnap me." Was that true? she thought. Were she and Brian friends? She thought about that for a moment. It didn't bother her to say that. She didn't cringe at the thought. Maybe it was true. They were friends. How'd that happen? she thought.

"We're strangers. thats the problem isn't it?" Billy said to her. He looked at her with his steely cold eyes. They seemed to penetrate her. "I'll tell you my story... if you want to hear it."

"Ya dont got tuh do that, ya know..." DemiDevimon said to him. "Shes jus' a broad. Yer story is yer story. She ain't gotta know nothin' except that shes gonna be yer bride and that LadyDevimon has plans fer her."

Billy held up a hand in silence. "Do you want to hear my story?"

Hope hesitated for a moment. Then nodded and said "Yes, tell me."


	6. Leomon and Billy

When Brian awoke, he opened his eyes very slowly. The light shining through the tent felt very bright and it hurt his eyes. He shut them again tightly. His head was pounding. He could feel bandages around his head and chest. Everything was so confusing to him. What had happened? He tried remembering the last thing he could.

There was Darkness surrounding him. Such a cold, soul penetrating Darkness that will haunt him for quite awhile. He couldn't forget that. But he was forgetting something. What had happened in the Darkness? There were digimon all around him. That much was certain. What about his friends? Agumon? Was he ok? Or Hope and Gatomon? Where were they? Wait, Hope was-

"Hope!" He yelled sitting bolt upright. A huge bolt of pain surged up his side. The pain was so unbearable and he was so unprepared for it that he sunk back into unconsciousness.

When he came to again, he had forgotten about the last time he woke up. He'd been coming in and out of consciousness for days. And then as he thought about what happened he remembered everything. He even remembered not to sit up so fast this time. His eyes shot open and let the blinding light in. He sat up slowly. The pain was bad but at least he expected it this time. When he was fully upright, Agumon walked in.

"Brian!" He cried. "You're awake! And you're alive! How do you feel?"

"Like I've been hit by a train." He replied with his hand shielding his eyes. "Where is Hope?"

Brian had realized where she was even before Agumon had said it. "She's been taken Brian. Hope was kidnapped by Billy."

"We have to go after her!" Brian said, getting to his feet as best as he could. He took a few test steps to regain his balance. As he finished Gatomon and a large, shaggy man walked into the tent. No, not a man. A lion.

"Listen, Brian," Gatomon had told him, "I'm the first to say let's go crack some skulls and take back Hope. But simply put, you aren't in any condition to go after her yet."

"I don't care." Brian replied. "It's my fault she's there. I'm going after her."

"From what I've been told," the large lion said, "It seems as though you were out manned and out gunned. I don't think you could have done anything to stop it from happenning. This kid seemed to have come up with a very good plan."

"And who are you to tell me what I could have and could not have done?" Brian asked. He felt bad about being rude, but the headache made it easier to just not care.

"I am Leomon."

"Well, Leomon," Brian said taking off his bandages and walking out of the tent. He lost his balance and fell. The pain was excrutiating but he held his screams in. "I'm going after her." He said through gritted teeth.

"Look at youl." Leomon said pityingly. "You are foolhardy and irrational. You are just like Fire of legend. I'll help you on your quest to retrieve your friend. But first you must rest. We can leave tomorrow."

"Please listen to Leomon," Agumon said. "You need to."

Brian looked at Gatomon, who crossed her arms and gave him a look that clearly said 'stupid boy'. "Ok," Brian said sitting up. "I'll stay another night. But I leave first thing in the morning. With or without you." Then he smiled and said, "Now help me up, will you?" Agumon and Gatomon both smiled back at him and they each grabbed an arm and pulled him up right.

"It all started when I first met LadyDevimon." Billy began. "I was walking home from school when this woman aproached me. She made the air around her cold. But I wasn't afraid. I'm never afraid. She said to me 'You are the Darkness. The blackness of your heart is a useful tool. Use it.' Then she handed me a letter and told me to read it when I got home.

I couldn't wait to get home. The letter almost seemed to burn in my hands. I wanted to read it. I wanted to know what it said. I ran to my house as fast as I could. I even almost knocked over my mother who had just baked cookies for me." He chuckled. "Stupid woman. She should have known that I wouldn't be around to eat them. That I was destined for greatness beyond oatmeal-raisin treats. I dashed to my room and opened the envelope. The letter inside was fasinating. I have it if you'd like to read." He snapped his fingers and DemiDevimon snatched a piece of paper from Billy's pack. The digimon flew it over and handed it to Billy, who in turn handed it to Hope. The letter said this:

Dear Billy,

I know who you are. You are the Darkness. The true ruler of the Digital World. You are destined for greatness. Who better to rule the Digital World than a Digidestined? Nobody. You and you alone will bend the digimon to your will. You will come to the Digital World. You will sit upon the throne. And you will defeat the Fire and the other digidestined and marry the Light. The Light is named Hope. She is the key to controlling the Digital World. Find her, make her yours, and then your will be more powerful than your wildest dreams.

Sincerly yours

-LadyDevimon

Hope handed the letter back. She didn't even know what to say about it. This LadyDevimon was obviously just manipulating Billy. Couldn't he see that? Or maybe he was brainwashed. How was she controlling him?

"What is a digidestined?" Hope asked him.

"LadyDevimon explianed it to me." Billy told her. "She said that we were superior to other humans. We can do things others cannot. Coming to the Digital World for example. Only somebody with a digivice can open the portal. Only somebody like us get a digivice. We are special because we chose to be. In the deepest recesses of our hearts we knew we were better. And so we were granted a digivice. And with it we gained access to the Digital World. And with the digivice we can control our digimon and make them more powerful than the average digimon. Don't you see? We are superior beings. We are Demi-Gods. DigiDestined."

Hope stayed silent. How much of this was true? The demi-god part was obviously a brainwashed dilusion implanted by LadyDevimon, but what about the rest? Were digidestined trully superior?

"Anyway, after I read the note, I saw a light appear in front of me. The lights all over the block went out. This thing must have sucked up all that power. It was my digivice. It gently landed in my hand. Suddenly my computer screen lit up just as brightly as the digivice and I felt myself being pulled in. I woke up in a large dark room. There were large pillars bordering a red carpet that led up to a stone throne. I just knew it was mine. Then I felt the air around me get cold again.

There was a swirl of darkness and there was LadyDevimon sitting in my throne. 'Give me your digivice,' she had told me. I held it out to her and the grabbed it. She examined it for awhile before crushing it with her fist. 'You won't be needing this piece of junk anymore.' She said. Then she threw the data into the air towards me and my body absorbed it. Then just out of nowhere my black digivice appeared. It was just there in my hand. No light show or anything this time.

Then she said 'There! A digivice befitting a king of Darkness! Behold my son, your kingdom!' she walked me over to a window and showed me the Digital World for the first time. It was beautiful. I wish you could have seen it Hope.

"You destroyed it." Hope said sternly. "You took all of that data and turned it into the Digital Wastes."

"I did that because LadyDevimon said that it'd be reshaped into a better image. One that would be easier to rule."

"You're insane."

"Please, let me finish. She gave me DemiDevimon. She told me that he is my partner and my servant. She told me that he'd do anything I asked without question. And so he has. He's been a good partner and hes won almost every batle. The first missions LadyDevimon sent me on were mostly just intelligence gathrering. Each location carefully planned, each move perfectly executed. Soon the Digital World was ready for us to conquer it. I began destroying the landscape and absorbing the data. It was our plan to reconfigure the data into new shapes more befitting of my new kingdom.

Then the unthinkable happened. I met Brian. Another digidestined. A competitor for my throne. He had to be eliminated. He had found his digivice and had found a partner. And whats worse is that he did those all on his own where I needed LadyDevimon's help. I hated him for that. I challenged him. He was the only one who could stop me from collecting the data I needed. He was inexeperienced at fighting and I beat him easy, even though he too could digivolve to champion. He was just a fledgling. It'd taken me weeks to figure out how to digivolve. And he did it right there on the spot. Just like that. So after I beat him, I destroyed the village and I went on my way.

I informed LadyDevimon of the encounter. She called him the Fire of Courage. If I was Darkness then he was Fire. It made sense. She told me that if I was to rule the world then he could either help us or destroy us. It would not and could not be any other way. I had made a mistake that day by making an enemy. Since he won't join us I must destroy him or he would destroy me. We cant both exist. I've accepted that. I began making the effort to track him down. We fought twice more. Each time I defeated him but he escaped me. I can't understand how. It just wasn't possible.

Then LadyDevimon explained the Light to me. She told me all about how I must find you before he did. If he found you then that'd be the first step in ruining us. He'd start with the Light and then begin recruiting other digidestined. I dont know how many more digidestined there are so dont ask. All I know of for certain are the three of us. But I do know there are more. Unfortunately he did find you first. You began to travel with him. Little did I know, however. I had no idea he had found you. I knew you were here though. I picked up the signal of your digivice with my own.

My search for the Light became more desperate. I had to resort to using the other digimon to find you. And when I finally found you, so did I find Brian. Again that little rat had irritated me. And whats worse is that you two defeated my Devimon! You both made a fool of me and I vowed to have my revenge.

Thats when I decided to head west in search of a way to digivolve again. If I could get stronger then I could beat him and win you. I searched for many days. Maybe even weeks. I dont remember exactly. All I cared about was finding my ulitmate form! And then I did. Its a sword. Yours too for that matter. And his too. They're all swords. They are called the DigiBlades. When I use it, the Blade makes Devimon digivolve to NeoDevimon. I'd assume that it works the same for you and Brian. Too bad we are using your DigiBlades. They make an excellent power source, you know."

"What do you need a power source for?" Hope asked him.

Billy simply laughed. It was such a cold, evil laugh. It ran a shiver down Hopes spine. "Yous don't need tuh be knowin' that, now, sweetie." DemiDevimon told her. "Maybe you'll figures it out. Maybe yous won't though." and DemiDevimon began to laugh too.


	7. Seperated

"Hes already several days ahead of us." Leomon said outloud.

"Then we'll have to move faster, won't we?" Brian suggested. They had been walking for a couple of days bow and it had seemed as though they hadn't made any progress at all. "How fast can you run, Leomon?"

Leomon thought for a moment and then replied, "See that rock out over in the horizon?" Brian looked in the direction Leomon was poimting and then nodded. "I can probably reach that in a minute and twenty seconds."

The rock was a goodly distance away. Brian was impressed. "Then let's pick up the pace!" Leomon agreed and walked over to Gatomon and picked her up and placed her on his back where she hung on as tight as she could.

"Oh, Leomon," Gatomon said. "What large muscles you have! And a fast runner too, huh?" she purred a little bit. Leomon blushed and stammered "Well, I guess so... it's a heroes duty to have the strength to protect those without strength, after all."

"I can run fast too!" Agumon said. "And have lots of muscles! Are you ready, Brian?"

"Uh-huh!" Brian replied whipping out his digivice. "Let's do it!"

"Agumon, digivolve to-" In place of Agumon stood the brutish form of his champion level. "Greymon!" Greymon looked expectantly at Gatomon, but she wasnt paying any attention to him. Greymon had a defeated look on his face as Brian climbed up and sat on his head. Greymon and Leomon then began to ran as fast as they could in the direction that Billy went.

Billy and Hope conitnued to walk in the direction of the castle, which still had yet to make its appearance on the horizon. Hope had been kept on constant watch. When Billy or Demidevimon couldn't watch her, two or more of the Bakemon did. At the moment Billy was in front flanked by a pair of Bakemon, Hope was in the center completely surrounded by the ghosts, and DemiDevimon picking up the rear. Hope made several feeble attampts at conversation with the dark haired boy up front, but each one was shot down by either his eery silence or a brutish grunt.

After awhile she eventually gave up and fell into silence herself. Every now and then DemiDevimon and several of the Bakemon would fly up into the air and look around for a bit before returning ot their posts. At about midday, a scouting party of Bakemon returned and made their report to Billy in hushed voices. Hope could make out some of it.

"We've encountered a... rebels... and they've... multiple forces..." One Bakemon was saying.

Whatever this stuff meant, it did not make Billy happy. He began yelling at them for their incompetence and even threw in swears to make himself more threatening. Hope didn't really understand much of any of this.

Billy called DemiDevimon over to him and forced him ot digivolve to Devimon. "Hope," he called to her and made a hand motion for her to come over. She did as she was told as she probably didnt have much of an option. "I have something that I need to take care of. NeoDevimon and I will be gone for a while. I'm going you leave you and most of the Bakemon here. Do not try to leave. They are under orders to bring you back by harmful force if necessary. Understand?"

That irritated her. She didn't like being forced to stay behind and be babysat like a child. But she was the prisoner and probably would be able leave if given the chance. Would I leave? Hope asked herself. It was odd. She missed Gatomon and Agumon. She even missed Brian for whatever reason. But she still wanted to know more about Billy. I will stay for now... Hope decided. She nodded in agreeance with Billy's terms.

Devimon then picked up Billy and flew off in the deirection the the scouts had come from. It was several nights before Hope had heard anything form them.

Billy was not in a good mood as Devimon grasped around his chest and lifted him into the sky. "What would the rebels be doing here?" He raged at the silent NeoDevimon. "They have nothing here! Unless they think that LadyDevimon is close by... but we lead them astray from that thinking months ago. This must be just a small scouting party..." his voice trailed off as his eyes searched the ground for clues of the rebels whereabouts.

The more he thought about the rebels the angrier he got. He finally made Devimon put him down so he could take out some of his rage on a dead bush. He pulled the DigiBlade that he found in the west land out of its sheath on his back and began to chop at the bush until it dissolved away into data.

As he stood there panting and looking around for something else to destroy, he heard noises. Devimon heard them too and looked in the direction that they had come from. There was a group of digimon off in the distance.

Billy's spirits instantly rose as he knew that the rebels had been found. He and Devimon flew over in their direction. He had already started planning the words he would say to them when he reached them. Ah, At last we meet again. Oh, dont know me? How foolish of you. I am Billy! the scourge of the Wastes and Ruler of the digital world! In the name of LadyDevimon you and your comrades are hereby charged with treason and sentenced to be destroyed. Yes... that ought to work. He was feeling particularly victorious already. He felt good.

But once he got there they disappeared. "What?" Billy yelled as he landed right where they had stood not thirty seconds ago. "Where'd they go? They were right here!" he began to franically search about. He then saw them again in a different direction. Devimon flew them over there but that group soon disappeared too. "What's going on here?" Billy yelled at Devimon, who simply looked around with a puzzled look on his face. The dark digimon then pointed off into the distance at a third group. At the same time, Billy noticed a fourth identical group in a different direction.

"We're being played, devimon." the digimon nodded his agreement. "Let's split up. One of these has to be the real party." And Billy walked away in the direction of one of the groups, now wishing he had brought a few Bakemon with him. By the end of the day, up to fifteen identical parties of rebel digimon were appearing at a time. The two decided to give up for the night and continue in the morning.

Brian and company had been running hard for two days now. Greymon's energy was being depleted and was being forced to take extra data from the digivice just to keep going. Several times Brian had suggested a break to the weary dinosaur. Greymon simply said that 'if leomon can go without rest, than so could he.' It was very frustrating to Brian, but it's had to argue with a dinosaur.

Meanwhile, Leomon showed almost no sign of being tired. "I have trained the better part of ten years on the frozen summits of mountains in the north. I can handle running through the Wastes for a few days." Greymon snorted.

Gatomon was still riding on Leomon's shoulders. Every now and then Brian could hear her purring over the sound of Greymon's monstrous panting. And when Brian could hear it, so could Greymon and he pushed himself harder.

By the end of the third day, the party had decided to camp in the middle of a well defensible crater. It was huge. The walls rose up at least a thousand feet into the air and unless you had wings, there was only one way in; an opening in the wall made by a rockslide which created a ramp. Anybody not standing at the top of the crater couldnt see them, so they made a fire without any fears.

When they woke up the next morning, Leomon had already made a fire and cooked breakfast for them. And as they sat there eating their meal, Brian thought he had seen something. Remembering what had happened the last time he saw something out of the corner of his eye while eating, he quickly jumped to his feet and pulled out his digivice. The others all reacted to Brian's sudden movement and they jumped into battle positions, Leomon pulled out his sword, Gatomon putting up her fists, and Agumon baring his teeth.

"What was that?" Brian asked as his eyes searched their surroundings, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"I don't know," Gatomon rpelied. "What exactly did you see?"

"Just some movement off to my right," Brian told her. Then just as he had said that, a pixelated beam shot out from the sky and struck the gound right in front of him, leaving a small crater. A moment later it disappeared.

"A data stream," Leomon had told them as he sheathed his weapon.

"Whats a data stream?" Agumon and Brian asked in unison.

"Its a connection between one location and another." Leomon explained. "It happens when one area of the Digital World needs some extra data and another area has some to spare. The lacking area simply opens one of these connections and takes some of what it needs. That could explain hwy this crater is here. There must be a lot of data missing from the Digital World ever since that boy started stealing as much as he could. I expect that due to the creation of the Digital Wastes, these data streams will become more and more frequent as the different areas compete for data."

"Where does that data stream lead to?" Gatomon asked him. As she had said this another data stream appeared in the distance. And then another one, though much closer. Soon data streams were appearing everywhere they looked.

"I don't know," Leomon siad worriedly. "But I'd rather not stick around to find out. Let's move!" and he ran off toward the ramp they entered through. Brian managed to catch up to him, but Agumon stayed behind to grab as much of their supplies as he could.

"C'mon, Agumon!" Gatomon yelled as she tugged on his arm. "We gotta go!" as a data stream appeared between his arms stealing all of the food he was carrying, he quickly agreed and followed her towards the ramp. The two digimon managed to get about half way back when a data stream appeared right infront of them. They tried to dodge it and only managed to get thrown to the ground. Another data stream showed up right on top of them.

Brian looked back and saw this happen just as he and Leomon had reached the top of the ramp. "Agumon! Gatomon!" He yelled. But they were gone. "Agumon!" He yelled again as he ran over to where his friend once was.

"No, Brian!" Leomon called after him. "Its too dangerous! You dont know where you could be sent!" And he ran back in after him. Leomon saw a data stream forming right above Brian and tried to push him out of the way, but he was too late and they were both sucked up into the connection.


	8. Gennai

Billy and Devimon toiled away, day after day trying to find the rebels. Billy refused to be defeated by this trap. One of these holograms or illusions or hallucinations or whatever you wnated to call them had to be the real rebel group. He just knew it.

Devimon was beginning to wonder if his partner had lost his mind in the heat of the Wastes. Or if maybe he was letting his power go to his head. He worried about his master and what this LadyDevimon was doing to him. Was she really working in Billy's best interests? It was not his place to decide, Devimon concluded. It was Devimon's job to do as he was told and to not pass judgment or make an opinion.

At about midday, Billy decided to break for lunch. He tossed some food to Devimon who sat perched atop a large rock as a lookout. Just as Billy was finishing his meal, Devimon grunted to catch Billy's attention. Billy looked to Devimon, then towards the direction that the digimon was pointing. Off in the pixelated distance was a figure walking towards where Billy sat. As the figure came closer, he became less and less pixelated until Billy could tell that it was an old man. Not a digimon like what would be expected. Was this old man digidestined? How could he be? And yet at the same time, how else could he have come to his Digital World? The old man did not appear to have a digimon. This puzzled Billy. Every digidestined he had met was partnered with a digimon.

Billy decided that he was curious enough to allow the old man to approach him. The old man boldly walked up to where Billy sat. So boldly in fact that it agitated Billy. "Who do you think you are, old man?" Billy asked snidely. In response the old man clonked Billy on the head with his staff and sat down in front of him.

Hope sat there in the desert sun. She was hot, and she was hungry. The sweat clung to hear skin and seemed to just drop onto her from the air itself, which she concluded could not be happening because the air of the Wastes was much too dry. And, as if only to make things worse, the Bakemon reallly creeped her out. Sometimes, as a sick game or a prank or whatever reason they did it for, one would change shape to look like Brian and walk out of the Wastes to greet her, only to turn back into the horrible ghost creature.

Or sometimes theyd turn into Billy and just say horribly disgusting things to seduce her. The first few times they did this, she immediately kicked "Billy" right in the manhood. The faux-Billy fell over and turn back into Bakemon who sat their clutching at something beneath its ragged and torn cover while the others laughed. The laugh is what freaked her out the most. It was cold, lifeless. Void of any emotion. She couldn't understand how a laugh could lack something as important to a laugh as emotion.

Evertything about the Bakemon was monotone. Grey. Humanless. She missed Gatomon and Agumon. They were funny when she needed that and serious when that was needed. And they comforting whenever she needed that too. It was right now when she needed it most. A prisoner by a demonic lover-boy on a power trip. Surrounded by inhuman sacks of darkness.

She'd even accept comfort form Brian right about now. It's not like he was ugly anyway... and he had a nice charm that grew on you

after a while.

Shut up, Hope thought to herself, Brian's an idiot. He probably doesn't even care that I'm gone. He wanted me gone from the beginning. But he's sweet sometimes... and obnoxious. But kinda cute... Hope tugged at her hair. The heat was making her go crazy, she decided. Yes, that was it. She was deluding herself into thinking that she wanted to be back with Brian. She just wanted Gatomon. And she wanted to be away from the sadistic Billy and all of his digimon minions.

One of the Bakemon brought her a bowl of soup. She had no idea what type of soup it was. But whatever was in it tasted really good. Maybe because she hadnt eaten at all yesterday or today?

Maybe. Maybe that was it. Then she started to feel sleepy. Her eyes drooped a bit and she felt herself fall and hit the ground. She tried to keep her eyes open, to fight whatever made her sleepy. It was just an instinct, that she shouldn't go to sleep. That rescue was too close to be put to sleep. Her eyes fell and she drifted again. She rememebered her life back home. Back in the Real World. Back before digimon and the Digital Wastes. Back before all the danger.

She jerked her eyes back open. You have to stay awake, she thought. she tried to get up. As she did the Bakemon desintegrated into data. she half took notice of this. more like thinking of it as odd rather than wonder why. As the sleep took hold of her agian, she fell back to the ground.

Her family was there. Her mom and her brother, Heath. And her dog, Mokie, too. She could see her house back in Minnesota.

She jerked back into consciousness and saw an old man with a walking stick standing above her. "Sleep, my child." The old man said. "All will be better when you wake. Shhh..." She couldn't resist the lure of his voice. The sound was so mesmerizing that all she could do was obey. She laid her hands beneath her head and closed her eyes. As Hope drifted for the final time, her thoughts weren't on her family or her dog or her home. The last thing she saw with her mind's eye was Brian. And that made her smile because the Dream-Brian had smiled at her first.

Billy rubbed his head where a lump had begun to gather. it hurt a lot. "Who do you think you are, old man?" He repeated, dropping his hand to his side.

"Boy you are a stubborn, one ain't ya?" The old man had replied in that cliched hick sounding drall that old men usually talk with. The one that kinda has a slight whistle with certain words. "My name is Gennai. I look over the Digital World, or I did. Now it appears as though I look over something that is much more commonly reffered to as the Digital Wastes. From the knowledge I can gather up, it would seem as though you are the one who has created this mess, ain't ya? Well I've come to warn you about two things, sonny. The first is the obvious and overused line from many Real World plot lines. And it is that you are upsetting the balance of the Digital World. And with it you are upsettingthe balance of the Real World, to boot!"

"This is a lame conversation, geiser." Billy told him as Devimon flew over to his side and sat down. He returned some of his power to the digivice and dedigivolved to DemiDevimon.

"Yeah pops." DemiDevimon put in. "Yous best be gettin tuh the real point here perdy quick like. Ya don't want tuh be seein this kid here when he gets the angries ya knows. He'll put the woop-down on ya, just like that thar Brian kid we keepsa runnin inter, huh boss?"

"You see there," The Gennai continued. "Its that Brian lad that is the other thing. Your destinies are intertwined. Together, you are more than you could ever be seperate. Your destiny is not darkness as LadyDevimon might tell you. It is not to control and conquer and rule. Your destiny is the same as Brian's. And Hope's for that matter. And now that I think of it there are other digidestined out there too which once again share your destiny. Your destinies are to save the digital world. To bring prosperity back to the lands and cause another peace time. A new peace time."

"I think I've heard enough out of you, Gennai." Billy said as he got up and turned aways. His plan was to ignore the old man. forget the incident ever happened and go back to searching for the rebels.

"You keep searching for what you cannot find," Gennai whispered loud enough for Billy to hear. "And yet you do not realize that its been right infront of you the whole time."

Billy turned to ask what it was that was supposed to mean. But when his eyes reached to point where Gennai was sitting, the old man was gone. "Good riddence, I say."

"I agree wit you wholly boss. So now what're we gunna do, eh?"

Billy thought for a moment. "We got back to the Light. We will leave a few Bakemon here to solve this puzzle and then we'll continue on our way to LadyDevimon's castle. She will be very pleased to find that we have found out so much. And we must also inform her of this Gennai." And with that, the two walked off back in the direction of their campsite. DemiDevimon digivolved and pulled his partner into the air in one fluid motion.

The two had reached the campsite just in time to see all of the Bakemon be shattered into data and Hope fall to the ground as Gennai stood above her.

"Heed my warnings Billy," Gennai had said, "This is not the real you. Your programming has been corrupted. You are not a tool. You are a member of an elite group of people with a specific task at hand. Quit fooling around and get yours done." The old man and Hope were then surrounded by a gust of wind and then disappeared as Billy sheilded his eyes against the dust. He was not pleased with what he had just seen.


	9. The Fourth Digivice

When Agumon finally opened his eyes he found himself with the taste of saltwater in his mouth. And immediately in front of him was a vast ocean, stretching as far as his eye could see. He sat himself up on his knees just as a great Whamon surfaced and blew water out of his blow hole.

"Hey!" Agumon called to it. "Over here! Please come here!" But he could not yell loud enough to carry his coice all the way over there, over the waves and the sounds of bird digimon calling above him. And so the sounds of his calls just drifted until they died away, unheard by everybody but himself.

Agumon grew somewhat forlorn after that and simply decided to look around fo a bit. He began to walk up the beach until he heard some voices up ahead. One of the voices belonged to Gatomon.

Agumon became very excited when he heard her voice. He had almost forgotten that she was with him when the data stream sucked them up. He started running as fast as his stout little legs would carry him in the direction of the voices.

When the were finally within range, he called out to Gatomon. But the only response he heard back was a sharp "Lightning Paw!" She was fighting with the other voice. Agumon ran faster in an effort to protect her from whatever danger threatened her. He was determined to save her.

"Pepper Breath!" He yelled, throwing a spitball of fire at the Crabmon that was throwing attacks at her. His attack missed, but distracted the Crabmon.

Gatomon took the opportunity to use a Lightning Paw attack and the Crabmon disintegrated into data. "Stupid digimon." She said to Agumon. "He should have known not to pick a fight wight a digimon who is stronger than he. Oh well, maybe he'll have retained that lesson in the next life."

"Oh Gatomon!" agumon exclaimed. "I'm so happy you're-"

" However," she turned on him with and angry tone. "This whole mess is your fault. And of course I couldn't have been stuck with Leomon who is at least a champion level. Can you even digivolve without a digivice?"

Agumon just looked at the ground in way of admitting that he couldn't. She was right, he conceded. He was useless without Brian and his digivice.

"Thats what I thought." She told him. "But I'm stuck with you. Of all people, it's you. Why not Leomon, I wonder? Oh well. Go make us a fire while I forage us some food." She began to walk into the forest that lined the beach. "Oh and Agumon," He looked up at her expectantly. "Do try not to mess this up too, wont you?" and as she turned to walk into the forest again, Agumon's head dropped to look at his feet before he started to collect driftwood for a fire.

Brian punched one of the walls the surrounded him. He sat down now, breathing heavily. He was angry at everything. He had lost Hope to Billy who brutally beat him. He then lost Gatomon and his best friend in the whole world, Agumon. He no longer had any idea which way Billy and Hope were headed and even if he did what were he and the champion level Leomon going to do?

That ought to blow over pretty well. "Hey, you!" Brian might say to him. "Release Hope or else!" and then what? Nothing. NeoDevimon would have killed both he and Leomon. What a bittersweet end. It wouldn't be a happy death, but it would have at least ended this nightmare. Maybe thats all the digital world really was anyway. Maybe it was just some horrible dream. And when he woke up, life would simply go on. His grandmother, Nanna he called her, would make him oatmeal in the morning. He'd go back to school with his friends and then he'd be happy again. No more digiworld. No more digimon. No more dumb Billy. No more Agumon. Gatomon. Leomon... No more Hope.

He wept at the though of losing the new friends he had made here. He didn't want to lose them. And the fear of losing them gripped his heart. He felt his mind slipping. He wasn't being himself. The events of the past week were simply getting to him. He had lost many friends. Some he didn't know if the seperation was permanent. The Digital World was huge. Most of it, nowadays, was just the Wastes anymore. He wanted to go home. Thats all he cared about.

But then something in the back of his mind snapped him back to reality. You have more important thing to do now than sit there and feel sorry for yourself, it told him in a scolding manner. And the voice was right, Brian thought. Finding his friends and then taking down Billy and LadyDevimon were important. Whether the Digital World was real or not.

He looked around the old run down ruined shack he sat in. There were rakes and shovels and buckets lining the walls. Nothing particularly useful. So he sat up, dusted off his jeans, and then went for the door. On the other side of the threshhold there was nothing. Almost litterally nothing. This was the most barren section of the Wastes that he had ever seen. There were none of the rocks or canyons or depressions or anything that might have indicated any lifeforms whatsoever. The ground was litterally flat. It was like walking on dust covered glass.

Maybe thats what happened. Maybe Billy just came in and glassed the entire area. Maybe it was a day that he was especially angry and he just called out NeoDevimon and took his anger out on the world around him. Or maybe this was caused by something more dangerous...

He turned back to the shed that he had appeared in. It was gone. All that remained was a small crater. The only sign of change that this place had. And soon the dust filled in and the ground became flat again. It had never been there. Is that what im going to be like? Brian asked himself. Am I just going to leave a small crater for a time and then my mark simply filled in? Forgotten? Will I be remembered?

Thats stupid, he told himself. Then he began to walk in another direction. Where was Leomon? Shouldn't he be around here somewhere? They were in the same Data Stream after all. Stupid Data Streams. And then, all of a suddedn, he fell through a hole that wasn't there. Brian couldn't understand how that worked but that's what happened. One moment he was walking on solid ground, and the next he was falling through solid ground.

He wasn't falling for very long, so when he hit it didn't kill him. It hurt a lot. The pain was everywhere. But bolts of pain shot through his wrist. That was what hurt the most. After he sat up and picked up his injured arm. It was the left one, so it wouldn't be too bad if he couldn't use it for a while. He cheched to make sure that nothing was broken. Luckily enough it was just a sprang. He figured that it would pass by tomorrow morning.

He was surrounded by metal walls. All except one wall which was actually a hallway that stretched off into darkness. He couldn't go back the way he came, and there was nowhere else to go. He pulled out his digivice for light and comfort and he walked in the direction of the hallway.

The passage seemed to go on forever. The walls had nothing indicating individualism. They were all the same. Uniform throughout. Hard, coild, metallic. The metal felt strange to him. It was unlike any metal he'd ever felt before. He had assumed that it was Chrome Digizoid, an alloy of immense power and durabiliy that he heard some digimon talking about once.

He kept walking in the direction the tunnel was taking him. He had almost began to wonder if the tunnel would ever end. Or if maybe he was stuck in a loop world. But he then came to a door, shorter than he was but he could still get though it. Inside was a room with a lot of computer equipment and other machines. He was rather confused really. Who would build a computer lab way down here? He wondered.

Since he couldn't think of a real answer, he started to look around a bit. There were alembics, centrifuges, and several other machines that Brian simply didnt have a name for. In the corner of the lab were a few large glass tubes filled with water. They reminded him of the movie Indepenence Day, the part where they were showing the president the aliens down in Area 51. These one's were empty though. No aliens. No nothing.

Except in one. In the glass tube farthes away from him, he could see something floating inside. The juices or water or whatever it was holding it afloat and a respirator keeping him breathing. Brian became very curious and walked over to the creature. Inisde was Leomon. His golden mane moving around as he himself bobbed up and down. The brave digimon was unconscious or drugged and wouldn't wake up to Brian's calls.

Brian started to pound on the glass, trying to break in. But the glass was a lot tougher than it looked. He concluded that it had to be at least two inches thick. And Brian could not break that with his bare hands. He looked around for some controls. When he saw one of the computers nearby was turned on, he went over to it and examined it.

The thing was a dinosaur. Some obscur japanese brand that he had never heard of. It was so old in fact, that it didn't have a processer like Microsoft or Macintosh. All it used was the BASIC code, which he wasnt very good at to begin with. He had tried learning BASIC code a long time ago but gave up because it hurt his head.

Plus, almost just to mock him, the keyboard was done in digicode, which he had never had the time or motivation to learn to read. Just as he was about to button mash to see what that would do, he noticed a small white device laying next to the tower component. It was a digivice.

As he picked it up to examine it, he heard muffled noises coming from another small door on the other side of the room, opposite the one he entered through. He pocketed the new digivice, making sure to keep it seperate form his own so he wouldn't confuse the two, and walked to the other door. He put his ear up to it. It was hard to hear through the Chrome Digizoid, but there was definetly something back there. He pressed the open control button beside the door frame and watched the double doors srpead apart and disapear into the walls. Sitting in the corner was a somewhat chubby red-haired boy tied up and squinting at the light. The digivice must belong to him, Brian had concluded.

Billy was Furious. He had worked the better part of the past two months or so trying to find and capture the Light. And when he finally had her, she was taken by an old man who called himself Gennai. How could Billy have been so stupid as to let the man's intentions and power fly right below his own radar? Did LadyDevimon know about the man? Who was he anyway? Who was he to think he knew anything of Billy's destiny. His destiny intertwined with Brian's? HA! What a joke! Billy was a superior being! Brian was a nobody who only got a digivice through a freak accident. He was never meant to be digidestined. The only two fit for it were he and Hope.

And what a beautiful creature she was. So perfect and flawless in everyway. If only he could convince her that what he was doing was good. That all he meant to do was reconfigure the stolen data and turn it into something far more beautiful than it has ever been before. He only wanted to create the perfect world. And how could he do that if Hope would not be his queen? No world could truly be perfect without that one gem. The pommel of the blade. The icing on the cake. The very focus of his life was Hope.

If only she would love him. Billy became more enraged. More violent. He forced Devimon do destroy four more areas that day. He finished off the last of File Island, then came back to the Folder Continent and destroyed the Amusement Park, ShogunGekomon's Castle, and the Pyramid. He downloaded all of the data into his digivice for storage. He still didn't feel satisfied but it was getting dark, and he needed to get back to LadyDevimon's castle and report back.

Just before he made DemiDevimon digivolve to Devimon, the digimon made the comment, "If we'd jsut flown the rest of the way there, the broad wouldn't 'ave given us the slip, ya know." Thats when Billy hit him. Billy had now regretted wanting the opportunity to get to know her better. In fact, he couldn't actually get anything out of her anyway. The only thing he did know was that she was strikingly gorgeous and that he needed her.

So this time the duo had flown all the way back, making it to the castle sometime during the early morning, before the light had started to come back. As the magnificent castle came into veiw, Devimon began climbing altitude so that they could reach his own personal bedroom. Being in the topmost room in the highest tower of a floating castle could be tiresome ocassionally, and before he had even reached the balcony he had decided that he would sleep before reporting in.

However, as he and DemiDevimon walked through the double glass doors and into the dark room, the torches immediately lit aflame. LadyDevimon sat upon his bed staring at him.

"I wasn't aware you made house calls." Billy said to her. "Can i call you up here anytime? I do get lonely up here sometimes and could use a lady friend from time to time."

She smiled in an annoyed mixed with amusement sort of way. "No dear boy, I have not come to be your 'booty-call'. I am here to find out why you took so long to get here. And for that matter, where is the Light?" It had seemed as though his report would be filed sooner that he had anticipated or hoped for. Maybe he could think on his feet and avoid any trouble. "Well, I had the Light just as you had requested. And I left Brian out in the wastes to die. He had no food, no water, his digimon was too weakened to be useful, and his wounds were bleeding out quickly. Brian is dead. That much is certain."

"Excellent. Meramera is dead. This pleases me to no end" And she laughed for a while. When she stopped to catch her breath she spoke again. "Continue."

"The Light and I moved quickly on foot back towards the castle. At one point during the trip though, we spotted a group of rebels, whom I felt necessary to be destroyed. So I left Hope guarded by the Bakemon and went off to destroy the rebels. When I arrived at their location, however, it turned out to simply be an illusion. Just as I was about to leave and return to Hope, I was met by an old man who called himself Gennai. He-"

"Gennai!" LadyDevimon said shocked. "I had thought the man dead for quite some time. What a weasly snake. What did he say?"

"He told me that my data has been corrupted and that my destiny is intertwined with Brian's, rather than at odds with it. But that doesn't make any sense. Brian is dead. His destiny is fulfilled. The man was a raving lunatic."

"Shut up you stupid boy." The female digimon replied sharply. "You know nothing of what is unfolding." Billy flinched. She had never spoken so harshely to him. "Gennai is more powerful and more wise than you are. Or I for that matter. Do not take this man lightly."

"Yes, mistress."

"Now, where is the Light?"

"Gennai has kidnapped her. She was there with Gennai and all of my Bakemon were destoyed. Then the next minute they were gone. From right under my nose, too." His head dropped a little.

"You stupid boy!" She yelled. "You moron! Imbecile!" and she back handed him very hard. Billy fell to the ground and clutched at his face. One of her claws had scraped into his cheek and created a large gash into his flesh. The warm blood ran through his fingers and down his face. "I should kill you now for your uselessness." And she raised another hand to him. As she struck downward, DemiDevimon got in the way and absorbed the attack. He was thrown agianst the wall and knocked a candle off. He dedigivolved to Pagumon and landed on the ground with a soft thud. "Foolish digimon. He was lucky. It could have been a lot worse. High Lord Daemon will be here tomorrow. I expect you to be on your best behavior when he arrives. No clean that mess on your face." Then she disappeared in swoosh of darkness.

Billy picked scooped up his digimon and layed him in the bed before going to wash his face in teh water basin by the tub. The dark magic of the wound had turned the mark into a scar overnight. There was no chance of the scar ever going away.


	10. The Legend of the Eight

That night, Agumon put the fire out by scooping up saltwater into his mouth and spitting it on the flame. His mouth was large enough to hold all the water that was needed to put it out. That was a good thing because the water tasted horrible in his mouth.

Gatomon was already fast asleep by now, but when he spit the water out, the fire sizzled and Agumon gasped for breathe while clawing at his tongue to get the salt taste out. All of the ruckus woke Gatomon who was not very happy about it.

"You cant even let me sleep for an hour?" she had said to him. "I have half a mind to just leave you here by yourself. And I probably would too if you could take care of yourself without a human partner." Then she rolled back over and left Agumon to keep watch for a while.

As Gatomon slept the hours seemed to keep going by. Agumon's thoughts were on his lost partner. "Where are you Brian?" he asked looking up at the night sky. Brian had once told him that the sky here in the DW looked a little 2-dimensional. Kind of like backdrop in a videogame, he explained. Brian had said that back in the Real World, the sky looked better. More real. Agumon had no idea what any of this meant but listened intently anyway. He wanted to learn as much about Brian's world as he could.

Brian had told him very much about his life back there. He talked about his family and friends mostly. Agumon didn't quite understand the conscept of family because digimon didn't have families. Their data was constructed and brought into being at Primary Village. Then they either go off oon their own or live in another village. The wandering digimon made it their goal to fight other wandering digimon, absorb their data, and digivolve. That was simply life. When a digimon died, tthe memory section of their data could not be absorbed becasue the main processor used that to reconstruct the digimon again. Digimon were essentially reborn from the ashes. Agumon had never known what it felt like to die. He had lived in Koromon Village all of his life. He had never even fought a battle until Brian and Billy had shown up that day.

After he had watched all of his friends and home be destroyed and absorbed by that human boy, he had sought revenge.

For some reason he didnt even have trouble trusting Brian, who was also a human boy. It struck Agumon as odd. But nonetheless, the two had become partners and friends. And Agumon shared what he knew of the DW and the Wastes, and Brian hat shared what he knew about the RW and hotdog stands. Agumon liked the sound of a hotdog stand. He wasnt quite sure what a hotdog stand was, but it definitely intrigued him. He like the idea of being able to buy a stick of meat wrapped in bread.

Then agumon heard a sound off in the forest. It sounded like a large groupof people. Agumon attempted to wake up Gatomon. "Gatomon," he called to her. "I think theres something off in the forest. It sounds like other digimon."

Gatomon mumbled something that he couldn't hear. "Pardon?" he said to her.

Her reply went something like this, "You dunce im asleep. A cat needs her beauty sleep. You ugly people wouldn't know anything about that though. If whatever you're talking about is important then tell me about it in the morning." and she promptly went back to sleep.

So Agumon went off into the forest to check it out himself. What he saw was a large mountain overlooking a city. The city's lights were ablaze and the streets were packed with digimon. There also seemed to be a low humming eminating from somewhere in the city. As Agumon looked down at it, he heard a faint voice in the back of his head say "Help us." in a low moaning tone that sent a shiver down his spine.

Brian stared down at the boy, not really sure what to make of him. He was cought dumbstruck to see another human other than Billy or Hope. The boys face grew red and angry and he screamed at Brian through his gag. Brian snapped back to what was happening and untied the boy while apolgizing. Brian stepped back as the new kid took the gag out of his mouth.

He cleared his throat, "Ah, thats better. Thanks!" the boy said as he bent over with his hands on his knees. His face was still a bit red.

"Who are you?" Brian asked him.

"Oh, geez. I forgot to introduce myself." The boy laughed. "My name's Duane. And you are?"

"Err, Brian is what they call me usually."

"Usually?" The boy, Duane, laughed again.

"Yeah," Brian said and joined the laugh. "So how did you get here?"

"You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you ,honestly."

"I've seen some weird stuff lately. Try me."

"Well, I was playing games on my computer when some strange white toy or something shot out of my computer and left a whelt on my noggin. When I picked it up, a mechanical arm rose from the screen and grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into this lab. Ive been here ever since. I'm not even sure how long I've been tied up back here."

Brian guessed that whoever that arm belonged to had dragged Duane here though the wrong portal. He was probably supposed to go through and already opened portal somewhere near his digimon partner. Assuming that the digivice was his after all. He pulled it out and offered it to the newcomer. "Is this the toy that did that number on your head?"

Duane took the digivice and looked at it. "Yeah, I think it is! Where'd you get this?"

"It was out there in the lab. C'mon, I'll show it to you." And Brian led Duane out of his prison and into the lab area. He showed the boy everything he knew. The computer interested Duane the most, apart from Leomon anyway.

"How do we get him out?" Duane asked.

"He would already be out if I knew the answer to that."

Duane then walked over to the computer and looked at it again. He then put his hands to the keyboard and hit what had appeared to Brian to be random buttons. But then again he couldn't read digicode. Maybe Duane could, although that seemed unlikely. Then the screen went black. "What'd you do?" Brian exclaimed.

"Well, I dunno! I was just button mashing! I didn't expect anything to happen!" Then an alarm started to go off and the lights turned red and started flashing. the screen put up binary code. The zeros and ones flashed across the screen at a lightning's pace. Duane gave Brian a pleading look, "Do something!" he exclaimed to him.

"What the hell am i supposed to do?" Brian replied. "Hit control-z for all a care!" Duane did it. Suddenly smoke and steam billowed out of the tops of the the tanks that lined the wall. The fluids drained out of them through the bottom and the glass slid to the side. The walls bordering the glass spread apart to allow the glass to move and the respirator detached from Leomon's face. The large digimon fell to the ground sputtering and gasping for breath. His hair was sopping wet and clung to his face as large amounts of the liquid drained down to the floor.

"Thank...you...Brian..." He gasped. He wiped the fluid from his eyes and got a better look at the two who rescued him. "And who might you be?" He said to Duane.

"I'm Du-" but he was interrupted but his own digivice glowing and beeping. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and a purple beam shot out of the screen and struck Leomon. Then a voice came from the small instrument and said "Synchronization complete: Leomon. Confirm?"

"Y-yes?" Duane said hesitantly. It brought back a memory to Brian of his first meeting with Agumon, Where an orange beam shot out of his and said almost the same thing: 'Synchronization complete: Agumon. Confirm?'

"Duane... You're Leomon's Tamer!" Brian exclaimed.

"You...? Duane... I'm a partner digimon?" Leomon spluttered. Caught fairly off guard he tried to be as ceremonious as possible. He pulled out his weapon. "I, Leomon, pledge my sword to you, Duane. Everybody has a fate that needs to play out, and this appears to be mine. There is no sense in argueing with fate. Tame me well, and we can win many battles together." Leomon bowed his head in respect to his new Tamer.

"But I- I dont want to fight any battles!" Duane said shocked. But as the sirens went off and the lights continued to flash red, a digimon walked into the room witht the full intent of killing Brian and capturing the other two. Duane was about to get his first battle whether he wanted to or not. And Brian couldn't help at all.

Hope silently listened to the sounds that surrounded her. She couldn't remember where she was. The last hting she could remember was being a prisoner of Billy. But that couldn't be true anymore, could it? She didn't think so because she was laying on a bed. Even Billy didn't have the luxury of a bed. Maybe i've woken up from a nightmare? Hope suggested to herself. Maybe this is my bed and I'm home. Maybe the Digital world is just a figment of a dream that she wished she could forget.

She opened her eyes and sat up. This was not her room as she had hoped. In fact, she had never seen this room in her life. It was a fairly large room filled with some technical equipment, a few spinning nic-nacs, and an immense amount of digimon plushies. She stood up and tried walking but soon became lightheaded. As her vision blurred and she became dizzy, she reached out to steady herself. Her hand made contact with what felt like a small man.

"Oh, Hello there Hope." Gennai said. Hope's vision and balance began to return and she was able to get a good look at him. He was a small japanese man who was mostly bald except for a small white lock of hair bunched together at the top. His face was old and wrinkled with a white handle-bar mustache below his large nose. The mustache drooped down below his chin. "And here I was beginning to think that you'd never wake up. You sleep like a rock, you know. My name is Gennai."

"Oh, ummm, hello Gennai." Hope replied, somewhat unsure of what to say.

"You must be wondering why you are here." Hope nodded in responce. "Well, I rescued you from Billy. And then I brought you here to my secret base. This was once the home to my kind. Long ago it was the central hub for anything having to do witht he Digidestined and their partners. I believe you now call yourselves 'Tamers'. The digimon had once all had a Tamer. And every human had a Partner and a Digivice. Come, walk with me." he turned and walked out a door. Hope followed.

"Excuse me, Mister Gennai," Hope said.

"Please, just Gennai will do. Or my poker buddies sometimes call me Hitchcock."

Was that a joke? Hope asked herself. "I think I'll jsut stick with Gennai. Anyway, what exactly are 'your kind'. And what do you have to do with me?"

"Unusual..." Gennai murmured. He thought for a minute,

"What is unusual?"

"Its just that I don't really know what I am. Nobody's ever asked me and i never asked anybody either. Never really seemed important. I'll get back to you on that." Hope began to think that the man was insane. But he was the only friendly face shed seen in a few days and she kind of wanted the company. "And as for your second question, this has everything to do with you. You are the focus of the upcoming war, after all."

"What war? What'd I ever do?"

"As far as I can tell, you simply exist. Thats all you've done. The war will be fought over whose side you will take. Some think that your powers shoudl be used willingly. Others think that you should be used as a weapon. A toy to be discarded when they are done with you."

"And whose side are you on?" Hope asked.

"In a sense I am alligned with both factions. This is so because I am sided with the Digidestined- the Tamers that is- and both sides are comprised of Digidestined. Youve already witnessed the beginnings of this war. Brian and Billy are the leaders of each faction. Or will be anyway. Many will join both of their causes. Few will be kept in their personal teams. I have brought you here for you to decide which side you want to align youself with. But you need all of the facts first."

"And what are all of the facts?" Hope was becoming more and more interested.

"The first fact is that their is an ancient prophecy that very few know of. And most of the people who do know it think of it as merely a fairy tale. 'High Lord' Daemon is one that both knows of the prophecy and recognizes it for what it is. The prophecy goes like this: Long ago, there were a group of creatures that came from another realm connected to ours. There were eight of them and they each were partnered with a digimon and each had what we know today as a digivice. The digivices acted as a catalyst for digivolution, and temporarily gave the partner digimon the data necessary for digivolving. This had never been seen before. The eight digimon were able to digivolve very quickly and they became very powerful. They used the power of eight crests to further catalyze the digivolution phases. The creatures and the partners soon became the most powerful things in the digital and real worlds. There are many tales of them and their exploits. They were responsible for defeating Myotismon, The Dark Masters, Apocolymon, and many, many more. Their names are now celebrated and feared in the Digital World. Their names were Taichi Kamiya, Yamato Ishida, Sora Takenouchi, Koushiro Izumi, Mimi Tachikawa, Joe Kido, Takeru Takaishi, and Hikari Kamiya." He pointed to eight paintings behind Hope. Each of them had a digimon and they all looked very happy. The painings were dusty though and the paint was cracking. It definetely had been a long time since these were made.

"Each of you," Gennai continued, "and the other Tamers that you will find along the way, embody the crests that they all represented. You represent Hikari Kamiya's crest, Light. And you are very special. You have an ability to see through darkness. You can sense things that the others wont be able to. And you have the power to banish those that would do you harm. Both sides want this power for their own. Its up to you to decide which cause you will become the instrument of."

"I'm not going to pick the evil side." Hope said bluntly.

"There is no evil side. Its simply how you perceive it. Whichever side you pick will have a distinct domino effect that will alter the future. Neither outcome is exactly bad. Your choice effects how the Digital and Real Worlds will be shaped. But there is more that you need to know before you make your choice. The story continues with what happens after they Digidestined save the two worlds from harm. A new threat arrived, and we were forced to choose new Digidestined to face off against the new threat. We chose two of the previous children and four new ones. The new team consisted of Takeru Takaishi, Hikari Kamiya, Davis Motomiya, Yolei Inoue, Cody Hida, and Ken Ichijouji. The team once again saved the two realms, this time from Malomyotismon. After the event, the worlds had been permanetly connected and soon every child was partnered with a digimon. Or so we thought. Soon the two worlds were being thrown down each others throats. It had appeared that they could not live as one and must be seperated. I cut the connection and discontinued the tradition of Partnering. Soon the Digital world drifted into myth in the real world. Digimon were forgotten and the worlds were at peace once again.

"And then trouble began to brew here in the digital world. The prophecies long ago put to rest were resurfacing. Ladydevimon brought the first digidestined in a very long time here to the digital world, Billy, while I brought my champion, Brian. We knew that soon, you would come into the picture and we would be fighting over you."

"I thought you said you didn't take a side." Hope said. "Why did you refer to Brian as 'your champion'?"

"You're right. That was poor wording. But somebody needed to bring him here and nobody else was going to. And there is one last thing that you must consider before picking a side. Whose ever side you pick, you will fall in love with the leader. That is fate. That is simply how it must end. It will be out of your control. You won't be able to fight it. And sooner or later you will be forced to to pick a side. Brian, or Billy?"

Hope couldn't believe that. She couldn't just pick somebody to fall in love with just like that! What was this man thinking? How could she choose either of them? Brian was a cocky and obnoxious know-it-all and Billy was an arrogant creep. She decided that she wasnt going to believe that part of the story. But that still left the decision of whose to pick. Did she pick Brian or Billy? She didn't think that Billy was evil. He just had some issues. And Brian wasn't the embodiment of all that is good either. In the grand scheme of things, what was different about the two? How was she to pick?

As if by reading her mind, Gennai spoke again. "You do not have to pick your side right now. That can come later. But I do need to send you somewhere. You cannot stay here. Do you want to go back to the friends that you have made recently?"

Hope thought for a minute. Would that inevitably be picking a side if she chose to go back to the others? Or would she be technically just going back to Gatomon?

"Your friends have been seperated from each other." Gennai informed her. "Brian had found one of the Digidestined and his Partner. A boy named Duane and a champion digimon name Leomon. Agumon and Gatomon are elsewhere and not getting along very well."

That made it easier to decide, Hope thought. Brian already had some company and a digimon to protect them both. Gatomon and Agumon were alone by themselves. "I'm going to go back to Gatomon."

"Very well. Close your eyes."

She did as she told. The next thing she knew, there was a salty wind blowing her short hair around her face and her shoes were wet. The sounds of an ocean filled her ears. She opened her eyes and saw a small campsite with Gatomon Laying down asleep. She also just managed to make out the outling of Agumon climbing into a dark forest.


	11. Digidestined At Last

"I am Datamon and I demand to know why you are in my lab messing around with my test subjects!" The metal digimon yelled at Brian.

"These 'test subjects' are my friends." Brian replied. "And I'm going to resue them!"

"As much as I hate to say it," Leomon put a hand on Brian's shoulder, "it wont be you saving anyone today. I will hold him off. You two find away out. Fist of the Beast King!" he cried as a flaming lion's head shot out of his fist and knocked Datamon over, who was cought completely off guard that a Champion level would even be willing to stand up to an Ultimate level.

"Duane!" Brian called out, running to a back wall looking for another door. "Get out your digivice! You can make him stronger!"

"What? How?" Duane said back. "I don't even want to fight! Can't we reason with him?" As Datamon got back up, he launched a Digital Bomb attack. Leomon was able to dodge most of them and struck Datamon with his sword. Leomon was quite a bit faster than Datamon and that gave him an advantage.

"No you can't reason with them!" Brian said. "You have to fight!"

Duane reluctantly pulled out his digivice. Datamon extended his arms and was able to catch Leomon by the ankle as he leapt away form it. Datamon slammed him agianst the wall, then the floor, then the ceiling. After he had pummeled him a little that way, he let him drop all the way to the floor agian. Leomon had dropped his sword, which slid to the wall and sat there. The only weapon he had left was his Fist of the Beast King attack. And that would only keep working for so long.

Brian kept looking around the room, looking for anything that could help. They couldn't come back the way they came because Datamon stood in the way, and the only other way out was trhough the room that Duane was held in, but there wouldn't be an escape through there, could there? Brian went inside of it.

Meanwhile, Duane stood by helplessly as Leomon continued to struggle. Leomon attacked with another Fist of the Beast King move, but it was dodged. Datamon countered with more Digital Bombs. This time all of them landed a hit. Leomon was flung back ant smacked against the wall, knocking over all sorts of equipment and chemicals.

"Why isn't this stupid thing working?" Duane asked. He was right, Brian though. The digivice had always helped him out. Why not Duane? It used to be that Brian had though the Digivice was only good for Digivolving and navigating. But it helped out Hope too and she never digivolved. What was different about Duane?

And then it hit him. Duane doesn't want to fight. "Duane! You have to want to fight! Leomon's power comes from the digivice! And the digivice gets it's power form you! Show him that you want to win!"

"That's stupid!" Duane replied. "Look at him! The guy's a beast! He's stacked! He doesn't need any power from me. What power have I got anyway?"

Brian gave up. If he didn't want to fight then he couldn't force him to. All he could do now was continue looking for a way out. Brian began to feel along the walls, being careful to avoid the fight behind him. And then he saw a small notch in the wall. When he got to look at it, it seemed just the right size for a digivice to fit through. Inside the depression was a small purple symbol that resembled a ring inside of a larger ring connected to another small ring to the right of it. Brian had never seen a symbol like this before, but he was sure that it was important.

Brian placed his digivice inside of the depression and there was a faint click. He waited expectantly, but nothing happened.

Meanwhile, Leomon was losing the fight to Datamon. The mechanical digimon had him by the mane and was slamming his face into the floor. Duane stood there, completely helpless. He wanted to help but had no idea how. What was it that Brian had said? Something about needing to want to fight. But how does he show that he wants to fight? Oh, who was he kidding? He hates fighting. He simply just doesn't fight back. But was it different if a friend was in danger? Even though he had only just met Leomon, he still felt a kind of bond with the lion-man.

Datamon raised one of his long mechanical arms and slammed it down on Leomon's chest. Then again. And again. Finally Duane couldn't take it anymore. He threw his ethics and morals about fighting out the window and threw his digivice to free up his hands to grab Datamon's arm as he pulled it back up. Datamon was cought by surprise and threw Duane at Leomon, who landed on the digimon with a soft thud. "Sorry... I guess that wasn't the smartest thing to do..." Duane groaned.

The digivice that Duane threw slid right to Brian's feet and a thought occured to him; What if it had to be a specific digivice in the depression? He bent down and picked up Duane's digivice and looked at it. It didn't seem any different than his own. But he took his out and placed Duanes there. The faint click sounded again, but this time the wall opened and there was a great light that eminated from behind it.

Datamon was about to smash his arm down again when the light distracted him. Leomon took this opportunity to retrieve his sword and

rammed it right through the digimon's brain cavity. Datamon let loose a horrible scream and he disappeared into data.


	12. The City

The majority of the population in the city was Gatsummon, Pumpkinmon, and Bakemon, although there were scattered Candlemon too. Agumon picked through the diferent alleyways and market booths. The traders had a variety of things to sell; cursed amulets, holy crosses, crossbow bolt with the tips dipped in holy water right before your eyes, wreaths of garlic, wraith repellent, and the list went on. People kept staring at Agumon. He didn't blame them, there was nothing like him anywhere around here. The nervous glances and the staring children still made him uncomfortable though.

Agumon came to one vendor who had an abundance of jewlery. His first thought was that maybe Gatomon would like a nice necklace. The vendor was a Pumpkinmon with a creepy grin, and he had a strange gleam in his eye. "Step right up, step right up!" The Pumpkinmon yelled to Agumon, who unsurely pointed at his chest with a look of confusion. "Why yes you, you sir look like a smart fellow!"

"Well, I dont know about smart," He replied, "But I suppose that I have my moments."

"Well, of course you do!" the vendor told him. "Just look at the head on your shoulders! It's huge! Just imagine all of the hidden potential locked away in there! Your dome is an impressive one my friend!" Agumon liked this digimon. He didn't seem so bad. "So what can I get for you, pal? Are you looking for something for your self?"

"No, you see theres this girl I know-" he was cut off by the pumpkinmon.

"Ooooh! A girl you say! I had no idea that you had a girlfriend!"

"Well, she isn't my girlfriend persay..."

"Ok, I gotcha. Well, let's fix that shall we? Tell ya what. This stuff I got here is just fer show, ya see? The real stuff, I keep here." He pulled out a medium sized black box made of wood. There was a golden symbol on it that Agumon did not recognize. He placed it on the table in front of Agumon. The orange dinosaur reached up to open it but the Pumpkinmon immediatley slammed the lid back down. "Buuut, you have to promise that you won't tell anyone of this, got me? This is private stuff left only to people I think worthy of it."

"Ok, I promise!" Agumon said excitedly. "Nobody will find out!"

The pumpkinmon looked around to make sure that nobody else was going to see what was inside. He then gingerly opened the box and showed Agumon the most beautiful necklaces he'd ever seen. They all sparkled and shined in the glimmer of the city lights. Agumon picked out a rather large sapphire encrusted necklace that he thought Gatomon would like very much. He smiled at the thought of how happy she'd be when Agumon brought this back to her.

And then out of nowhere, somebody yelled "Thunder Blaster!" and a bolt of lightning hit the necklace and it shattered. Agumon was completely heartbroken and he turned around to see who had ruined his chances with Gatomon. The was a large humanoid digimon standing there holding a scepter in his right hand. The digimon wore a pointy hat and a cloak. Many other digimon walking the streets stopped to see what was going on.

"Whats the big idea?" Agumon yelled at him. "I was going to buy that!" the Pumpkinmon vendor started to visibly sweat as if he was nervous.

"Thats my point exactly." The cloaked figure said. "This digimon was going to sell you a fake necklace. Maybe even a cursed one."

Agumon turned his anger towards the Pumpkinmon. Seeing the hate in Agumon's eyes, he quickky gathered his things and bolted away from there screaming. Agumon threw a Pepper Breath attack after the terrified digimon, just to keep him running.

"Thank you, mister...?" Agumon said apologetically.

"Wizardmon. That is what the call me. And you are an Agumon, is that right?"

"Thats what they keep telling me." He replied smiling.

"And are you the same Agumon that is partnered with a human named Brian?"

"Yes! That's me! Do you know where he is? Is he nearby?"

"No, I'm afraid not. I wasactually hoping that the two of you might help me out with a bit of a problem."

"Maybe I can help anyway." Agumon said hopefully. "I'd like to thank you in some way."

"Yes... maybe..." Wizardmon turned around and began to walk down the street. "Come with me." Agumon quickly did as he was told.

Hope quickly walked to where Gatomon lay sleeping, so over joyed that she didn't even care that her shoes were wet and cold. She immediately picked Gatomon up and hugged her while spinning. Gatomon was caught copletely off guard and tried to pull away, frightened.

"Gatomon!" Hope screamed. "I'm so happy I finally found you again! I thought I'd never get to see this moment!"

Hope released Gatomon, who jumped backwards in a battle ready pose. When her eyes finally readjusted to the darkness and the sleep had worn away, her heart skipped a beat as she realized that it was Hope standing there in front of her. "Hope? But how?"

"A man named Gennai saved me. How have you been?" She wanted to change the subject from what the old man and what he had told her.

Gatomon told her everything that had happened while she was away. "After you were kidnapped, Brian ran after you for as long as he could, even resulting in crawling for some part of the way. He almost killed himself trying to save you. And we all would have died too if Leomon hadn't come and nursed us all back to health. He joined us in our quest to save you. He even carried me on his back as me all ran as fast as we could! Leomon is so strong! I think youd like him Hope. He was very nice to us. And then we camped inside of a huge crater which turned out to be created by Data Streams stealing the data from that area and moving it somewhere else. That's how we all got seperated."

"Brian... almost died?" Hope asked worriedly. It shocked her that she actually cared as much as she did. Although she didn't want anyone to die, she just didn't expect the feeling to be as strong with Brian. She felt a lump jump up into her throat. "But he's alright now right?"

"Last time I saw him he was. But I don't know where he and Leomon are. I saw them reach the top of the crater but I dont know if that means they escaped the Data Streams or not. They really could be anywhere in the Digital World. And I don't know where we are either. We might even be on a different continent for all that I know.?

That made her feel a little better. Just a little. "And I think I saw Agumon run off into the forest over there. Should we go after him?"

"Nah." Gatomon decided. "Hes a big digimon now. He can find his own way back here. Let's rest up ok? We got a big day tomorrow. We need to find Leomon again... and Brian too I suppose." Gatomon smiled and cleared a spot for Hope to lay down.

"Well, ok then." Hope replied uneasily looking towards the forest. She laid down on the ground and put her arm around Gatomon, who had snuggled as close to her as possible. "You're right. He'll be fine." She colsed her eyes.

"Hope?" Gatomon said through her sleepiness.

"Yes?"

"Don't leave me again." And she went back to sleep.

"Ok, I won't." She laughed and went to sleep as well. The warmth of her digimon was a comfort that she hadn't had in a while.

Agumon followed Wizardmon through the winding streets of the city. Agumon was completely amazed by the complexity of it all. He could not understand how the residents didn't get lost. However, Wizardmon seemed to know exactly where he was going. The buildings towered above them and it made the tiny dinosaur a little nervous. He was used top the openess of the Wastes beyond. He hadn't realized that his time away from the village had made him so claustrophobic. The other digimon began to stare at Agumon even more that he was with Wizardmon. They almost seemed to be afraid of the sorcerer, Agumon thought. The others shrunk away and hid in the shadows until only the gleam of their eyes could be seen.

He had decided that he must be imagining it. Wizardmon lead Agumon all the way to a large building near the back of the city. Until this moment he hadn't realized how large the mountain behind the city was. Its height diminished anything that he had ever seen before. The very top of it disappeared into the clouds high above. Again, the massivness made Agumon feel shrunked and insignificant. Is that what it would feel like to live here? he wondered.

The building that they now stood in front of was larger than the ones around it. Maybe not as tall, but it did take up quite a bit more space. Wizardmon slammed the butt of his scepter into the ground and electricity flowed out the end and into the ground. The yellowish bolts then traveled along the ground and up to the door, which at that point opened. Wizardmon led the way inside and Agumon was amazed at the hugeness of the foyer area.

. "What is this place?" Agumon asked as he looked around.

"This, my friend, is my house. And it is the only place where you are safe."

"Safe from what?" he was only mildly aware of the conversation and was more interested in the architecture. The pillars were huge and white and they bordered a red carpet pathway leading up to a granduer staircase which split into two directions and ended at two different doors. Agumon had guessed that those were the east and west wings.

"From the evil that lives in this city. I have been waiting for some time for your arrival Agumon. You see, there is a villain that lives here that can only be defeated by you and your Tamer."

"Why us?" Agumon stopped admiring the walls and payed more attention. "Couldn't another digimon simply destroy the evil one?"

"He is far too powerful. None here can defeat an ultimate level."

"Well what can I do?" Agumon asked, somewhat shocked towards what was asked of him. "I can't digivolve without Brian!"

"Hmm..." Wizardmon thought for a minute. "I think I might know of a way to make you more powerful. Come with me." And he turned around with a swirl of his cloak and rushed up the stairs to the west wing. Agumon followed as quickly as he could.

Wizardmon was very excited about something. So excited in fact that he loosened his control on the magic he possessed and electricity flowed out of his footfalls. When he reached the end of the hallway, Wizardmon waited for Agumon to catch up, and as soon as he did, he grabbed a candlestick and pulled it down. The wall moved out of the way with the grinding of stone and the digimon vanished into the dark passageway without letting Agumon catch his breath.

In fear of being left behind, Agumon forgoed breathing for a while and tried to run after Wizardmon again. The passageway was made completely out of a dark stone lined with unlit candles. That is they were unlit until Wizardmon ran by them and they reacted to his presence by catching flame. Agumon wasn't sure if Wizardmon was doing that or if the candles would do that for anyone. But nonetheless, there they were, lighting the way for them. And soon the walls changed material. They became a metallic substance that Agumon immediately rcognized as Chrome Digizoid. And at the end was a smooth wall. A dead end.

"Mister Wizardmon," Agumon breathed heavely. "Why did... you bring... me to a ... dead... end..." he fell over exhausted from the running.

"Because of this!" He pointed to the center of the wall. Agumon stood up to get a better look. Right where Wizardmon had indicated was a digivice shaped depression with a small pink symbol in the center. The symbol looked like a star to Agumon, and for some odd reason it reminded him of Hope.

"What is is?" Agumon asked.

"Its a Crest!" Wizardmon explained. "The Crest of Light specifically. There are eight in all. The Tamers that will soon become important figure heads all bear within them the power of one of the eight crests. The Tamer must simply insert the correct digivice into this slot and power unimaginable will be awakened." Then he doubled over in pain and screamed. "The sun is coming up! Stay in this house!" He said with a tortured expression. "During the day is when he comes out. He killed us all and trapped our souls. We can't leave! Help us!" and then he faded away as if he was never there. "Help us..." The disembodied voice of Wizardmon floated away, as nonoexistent as the owner.

Agumon bolted away from the spot with lightning speed despite the pain that already throbbed through his muscles from the earlier chase. Once he was out in the foyer he allowed his pace to slacken a bit, but he was still moving quicker than a walk. He reached the giant double doors that barred his path and opened them. Outside was something he had not expected. The sunlight had risen above the treeline in the distance and flooded the city with light.. Each building that the sun touched immediately transformed into its true self. The city was completely devastated! Each building had severe damage to it and the rotting wood was falling apart. Most of it looked fresh, however, as if it hadn't happened all that long ago.

It was obvious that this city had been attacked. But what had disturbed Agumon the most was watching all the citizens be hit with the sunlight, double over in pain, and then disappear into nothingness.

And then he heard a huge roar off in the distance. There was something big out there and Agumon thought that it was what had destroyed this place. He wanted to go warn Gatomon, but he couldn't get out of the city without being spotted. And if Wizardmon was right about it coming out in daylight, then he would be seen for sure. He turned around and walked back into Wizardmon's mansion, which he was surprised to see was not destroyed.

Hope woke up and her first thought was that she had dreamt the events of last night. She heard the waves washing against the shore and felt the sand beneath her, but she still didn't quite believe it. She hesitantly opened her eyes, afraid that what she would see wasn't what she had hoped. However she became immediately overjoyed when she saw Gatomon laying there beside her.

"Gatomon!" She yelled. "Wake up!" The cat jumped at the sound of her voice.

"What's the matter?" Gatomon cried putting her fists up and looking around. "Are we in danger?"

"No silly." Hope giggled. "I'm just excited to see that you're real is all."

"Well thats dumb." Gatmon said teasingly, putting her fists down. "Of course I'm real. I have more substance than anybody!"

Hope laughed again. It had been several days since she had laughed at all and she almost forgot how good of a feeling it was. Hope hugged her digimon very tightly. Gatomon made strangled noises.

"Hope, you're choking me!"

She let her digimon down. "Sorry!" Hope smiled again. She looked around and noticed that Agumon had not returned. "Where's Agumon?"

"Dunno. Don't care," Gatomon replied.

"We should go looking for him."

"Do we have to?" Gatomon slumped a little in disappointment, the way a child might when asked to do chores.

"Yes. We do. He might be hurt of lost or something." Hope kept smiling. "And we wouldn't want Brian to be in a bad mood when we return his digimon, dontcha think?" Hope got up and walked into the forest, a sullen Gatomon trailing behind.

They walked in cricles for some time, calling out his name. Gatomon told herself several times that Leomon would be able to find him. Or even would have prevented it from happening in the first place. Eventually they came to the top of a hill where they saw an old run down city with a mountain overlooking it.

"Do you think that maybe he saw this and went to investigate?" Hope asked her partner.

"I think its very likely." Gatomon told her, pointing at a set of footprints leading towards the city. They matched Agumon's.

Hope nodded her response and the two followed the trail until they came to the asphalt of the streets. The roads were all cracked and damaged beyond repair. The buildings were falling apart. The lampposts were either bent or laying down on the ground. There were shards of metal and glass everywhere. The buildings had burn marks all over them.

"A digimon did this." Gatomon said. "A powerful one. I dunno if we should stick around much longer, Hope."

"But we have to find Agumon first. He has to be here." Gatomon reluctanlty agreed and the duo continued walking the streets, calling Agumon's name.

The were walking by an old hospital at one point. The name on the sign was completely scorched off. Then suddenly, The hospital just collapsed with a loud crash. Behind it was the biggest digimon Hope had ever seen. It had two arms covered in machinery and a serpintine lower body. Its two purple wings were ripped and tattered and sewn back together in a few places. Beneath its metal helmet, a messy mass of purple hair flowed out behind him. The digimon angrily looked at Hope and Gatomon and roared its displeasure at them being in his domain.

"Its a Megadramon!" Gatomon said shocked. "Its the strongest of the ultimate lever cyborg dragons. We'd better run!"

Hope had not trouble agreeing as Megadramon yelled "Ultimate Slicer!" and charged at them. They managed to get out of the way and he tore the ground apart where the were standing.

The two girls had bolted into different directions and were now seperated by the giant dragon. "Run Hope!" Gatomon called. "Dont worry about me! I'll be fine! I promise!" Hope ran. She ran as fast as she could towards the other end of the city.

"Now we dance!" Gatomon said to Megadromon, who responded with a roar that covered her in saliva. "Thats gross. Lightnign Paw!" She called as she leapt at the digimon, aiming for his huge eye. But Megadramon countered and slapped her with a mighty blow from his metal-clad arm. She flew through the air and crashed into a wall of the ruined buildings. She hit so hard that the entire wall crumbled down on top of her.

She pushed as much of the rubble off of her as she could and dodged Megadramon's arm as it toppled down right on top of where she was. She took the opportunity to try another Lightning Paw attack. This time she hit him, but missed her mark and only hit his Chrome Digizoid head plating. Her paw hurt a lot but she ignored it because Megadramon was angrier now. "Dark Side Attack!" He yelled in his monstrously booming voice and a countless number of missles flew from cannons on his palms. Gatomon dodged as many as she could but she was overwhelmed. The explosions blew her right into another nearby building. She was loosing this fight and she knew it. But at least Hope was safer. Hopefully she got out.

As Gatomon tried getting the rubble off of her again, Megadromon was preparing another attack. She was trapped underneath a heavy piece of metal and would die if she didn't get out. And then out of nowhere, something jumped onto Megadromon's back. Augmon pulled on the dragon's hair as tight as he could and then yelled "Pepper Breath!" and lit the mane on fire. Agumon jumped back down and while Megadramon was distracted he helped Gatomon out from under the peice of metal and then picked her up and ran.

"What the hell are you doing?" Gatomon cried. "Put me down you dimwit!"

"Not until you're safe!" Agumon cried. "Now please be quiet! He'll hear us!"

"Do not tell me what to do, Agumon!" but she kept quiet anyway. When Megadromon finally put his hair out he looked around for the nuisances that did this to him, but they were nowhere to be found. He looked at his reflection in a piece of glass from a window and looked at his singed hair. He ran his fingers through it disappointed.

Agumon carried Gatomon all the way back to the mansion where she'd be safe, but they had no idea where Hope was.


	13. The Crest of Light

Hope had ran as fast as she could until the sounds of the fighting had died away. She was used to running, and had even been on a cross country team for a long time. Hope could run forever it seemed to some people. The adrenaline had fueled her to almost do just that. Eventually, however, she had slowed down. She was now lost and alone. She had no idea where Gatomon was or if she was even still alive. How could she let her friend slip away from her again so soon? They had only been reunited just last night and now she was gone again.

Hope decided that she couldn't go back though as she figured that Megadramon would still be around in the area. She forced herself to think of something other than Gatomon and instead thought of survival. Nearly all of the buildings looked way too unsafe to sleep in for the night, and she didn't have a tent. It was then that she found a small apartment complex that wasn't completely destroyed, and still looked mostly stable. When she entered inside, there was a lobby area with two elevators at the other end. The ground was covered in loose papers, broken class, and rubble made of cement and brick. There were also pieces of rotting wood scattered about. To her left was the lobby desk and on top was a bell.

She was bored so she rang the bell. The loud noise drifted thoughout the lobby and echoes bounced off of the walls. "Well, that was fun." She rang it again and then moved on to the elevators. Neither of them seemed to work when she pressed the buttons. She looked around the room again and noticed a stairwell. Hope walked over to it and made her way up them to the second floor.

Up here, she found several rooms with different numbers on them. Some of the numbers were missing or had a screw loose so that they hung upside-down. She went over to the room nearest her and opened the door. The room behind it was missing entirely. The floor had given away and it had all fallen down in a large heap below. The destruction had even taken the room above it down as well. Hope felt a little unsafe there and quickly stepped back and moved on to a room several yards away. This room, except for minor damage and dust, was perfect. The bed was even still there, although she did have to stand it up right again. She laid down in it and stared at a crack in the ceiling.

The bed wasn't the most comfortable one she had ever slept in, but it beat sleeping on the rubble covered ground. She fell asleep an hour before the sun went down.

The daylight began to fade as Agumon stepped through the door to the mansion. Earlier he had not noticed that all of the rugs and drapes were tattered and destroyed. They had lost a lot of their color and the pillars had cracks and chunks were missing. The ceiling had dropped parts of drywall and were now scattered all over the floor. The paintings that had been hung up on the walls were now torn or faded or missing entirely. The brick walls were missing some of the bricks.

Agumon took Gatomon to one of the bedrooms in the west wing and laid her on a rather uncomfortable bed. She complained the entire time.

"Put me down, you neanderthal!" She had cried. "I can take care of myself! Lightning Paw!" and she punched him squarely in the jaw once he had set her down.

"Ow!"Agumon said impulsively. "That hurt, ya know!"

"It was supposed to." She growled back. She tried to move her legs but she cried out in pain. "You broke me!" She said accusingly to Agumon, who thought that it was the large object that had crushed her legs earlier during the fight with Megadramon. Agumon wiped some of the sweat off of her forhead and then left the room. She didn't want him around, even though he really wanted to be there.

He went back to the foyer for some reason, looking for something to do, maybe a clue or something. Thats when he heard a horrible scream come from out in the city. He looked out the window and saw the sun going down below the tree line. Megedramon rose up into the air for Agumon to see. The great digimon roared his discomfort before bursting into fire and fading away.

Agumon's face showed excitement as he watched the evil digimon be destroyed.

"He wasn't defeated." A voice said from behind him. Agumon jumped and turned around to face the one who startled him. It was Wizardmon.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that he is as cursed as we are." Wizardmon explained. "Whereas we are cursed to walk the night, Megadramon may only exist in daylight."

Agumon looked back out the window and saw the buildings return back to the way they were the previous night. The beauty of the city and all of its lights and citizens faded back into existence before his very eyes. All of the digimon simply resumed their night as if they had never been anywhere. He turned back around and saw that the mansion had also been returned to its granduer state. "What happened here Wizardmon?"

"Megadramon attacked us one night." He said solemnly. "I was the strongest in the city, the only one who knew how to fight at all. I used every magic art I knew and still he was not defeated. But I still had one trick up my sleeve. I had read about this spell in a book once and had always been curious about what would happen if I used it. It was supposed to be the perfect magic, if one such as myself could master it. I was cocky and I overestimated my abilities. I see now that I hadn't fully understood the magic that I was using. I cast it at Megadramon who had burst into flames just as you had seen. When the night came, the magic did something that I had not expected. It had brought back the buildings that the monster had destroyed. The city was back to the way it had been before. We celebrated what I had done, we had thought that what I had did was the best thing ever. A true blessing. They gave me this mansion as a reward. However, come that morning, the buildings returned to their ruined state, we faded into nothing, and worst of all, Megadramon was back. He had tried to leave the city, no longer wanting any part in what he had experienced at my hand. But the magic would not permit it. Nor would it permit us to leave the next night when we returned. We went through this cycle day after day, night after night. We would have to share the city it seemed. We lived in our own personal Hell created by yours truly.

"I spent most of my time in the mansion, unable to show my face to the residents. They were afraid of me, though, and wanted no part in anything I had to offer anymore. It isn't like they could kick me out of the city, right? None could leave. So I did as much research as I could. Every now and then, passerby would come through the city, just as you had, and told us of what was happening on the outside. We heard much about you and your exploits and I just knew that one day you and your partner would come to save us.

"But then I realized that we didn't just want your help, we actually needed you. There was nobody else you could help. I discovered the depression I showed you one day. I studied the symbol and the shape. The shape is of the digivices of old and the symbol is that of Light. Brian had done much good in the time he has been here and I figured surely that he was Light. We need the human of Light." Wizrdmon finished.

"Well," Agumon told him, "I dont actually think that Brian is Light. There is this other boy we know who often calls our friend, Hope, Light. She is the partner to Gatomon who I brought here. You could talk to her." Agumon led the way to where he had left her. Wizardmon followed excitedly.

"I do not want your company Agumon." Gatomon said without looking.

"Miss Gatomon, correct?" Wizardmon asked.

She looked over her shoulder at the digimon whom she did not recognize, being careful to not cause her legs anymore pain. Agumon tried to blend into the wallpaper. Gatomon was very curious of the other digimon. "Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Wizardmon. May I ask you a question?" He asked. She nodded and he replied, "You are partnered to a girl called the Light, correct?"

"Who's asking?" Gatomon became defensive. "Going to turn her in to Billy, huh? Well too bad! I won't talk!"

"No!" Wizardmon cried, not entirely understanding what had said. "I need her help! I wouldn't betray her to anyone!"

"Then why'd you call her the Light? Only people like Billy who wants to hurt her call her that!"

"I called her that because I believe that your friend carries in her soul the Crest of Light. She is essentially Hikari Kamiya incarnate! Maybe not litterally, but at least essentially. Your friend is Light."

Gatomon just stared at him, trying to understand his motives. "Well, I don't know where she is. We were attacked and she ran."

"Do you mean to say that she was with you?" Agumon asked, shocked. "Just a few hours ago?"

"Yes, she came back out of nowhere last night." Gatomon said, forgetting that she hadn't told Agumon yet. "She said that a man named Gennai helped her out."

"I have to go find her!" Agumon said. "If your right, Wizardmon than you need her, not Brian! And she's actually here! It is safe to go outside now right?"

Wizardmon nodded. "I'll stay here. I will take Gatomon down to the Crest and see what she makes of it."

Agumon ran outside as quickly as he could, asking everybody he saw if they had seen a human girl with blonde hair.

A Gotsumon entered the apartment room that Hope was sleeping in with a towl around his waist and a toothbrush on his mouth. "Honey!" he called, "is that you in the bed?" The Gotsumon shook Hope, who woke up and screamed when she saw who had woken her. She kicked the rock digimon in the head and knocked him out cold, causing him to spit toothpaste everywhere. She cautiously stood up and looked around. The room she was in was the same but not. It was new. It was as if the room she was in was never destroyed like the one she fell asleep in.

She made her way to the door and out into the hallway. Again, everything here was brand new. There was no rubble or cracked walls or papers laying about. It was a well kept apartment building. She went down the stairs and the lobby was pristene. There was a digimon that Hope did not recognize standing behind the lobby counter. He was covered in bandages from head to toe and he wore a bandana on his head. "Good evening, miss." The mummy-like digimon called to her.

"H-hello." She replied tentatively. She then quickly hurried out the door and back into to streets. She was sruprised to find that the streets were filled with digimon and every building restored as if nothing had ever been destroyed. The city was bustling! She was almost ran over by a pumpkinmon pulling a cart who yelled "Hey! Get out of the way!" and kept on going at full speed down the street.

"Hope!" A familiar voice called from behind her. She turned around and looked up the street. Running down towards her was a little orange dinosaur.

"Agumon!" She cried back and ran over to him. When they met again, he jumped into her arms. She wasnt expecting the weight, though and they both toppled over, laughing.

"I've been looking for you everywher!" Agumon informed her. "Gatomon told me that you were here."

"Gatomon? Is she ok?"

"Mostly. She can't move her legs without being in pain."

"Take me to her please." Agumon nodded and grabbed Hope's hand. They quickly walked all the way back to the mansion.

Meanwhile, Wizardmon had carried Gatomon all the way down the passageway behind the wall and to the dead end. He brought her face to the depression so she could see it better.

"It feels like I should know this symbol..." Gatomon told him quietly. She reached up and touched the Crest inside. When she brought her paw back the Crest was glowing a little.

"That is remarkable!" Wizardmon cried. "You are the partner to the Child of Light!"

Just then, Agumon and Hope came running toward them through the torchlit corridor. "I found her!" Agumon had yelled to them.

"Hope!" Gatomon called to her Tamer. "Im so happy to see you!" She reached her arms out toward Hope and embraced her while Wizardmon held the cat-creature.

When they pulled apart Wizardmon said, "Hope, is it?" She nodded. "Good. Then you are the Light. This Gatomon has just proved that. Would you please place your digivice here in this slot?"

"Umm... sure, I guess..." Hope said, a little unsure. She pulled out her digivice and placed it inside. They all heard a faint click and the wall moved aside. Behind was a glorious light.

"It's true!" Wizardmon had said. "The city will be free! It will be the light who saves us! Here lies the DigiBlade of Light!"

Out of the the newly opened wall floated a sword which came right to Hope. While it levitated there above the ground in front of her, she grabbed it. The light in the room beyond disappeared and the wall closed again. Her digivice zoomed out of the wall slot, the Crest of Light burned into the back of it and seated itself into the pommel of the DigiBlade. The screen glowed for a second and a sheath appeared around the shortsword.

Hope pulled the blade out of the scabbard and examined it. The blade was maybe two and half feet long, the guard had intricate designs of a Gatomon. The hilt was wrapped in water shrunk leather. A pink beam of light shot from the digivice and struck Gatomon. She rose up into the air and then floated back down to the ground. Amazingly, the pain in her legs wer fully recovered.

DigiCode was inscribed on the blade, near the guard. Wizardmon read it aloud. "It reads: The edge of Light can cut through any darkness." that was when he doubled over in pain again. "Quickly! Go outside! fight Megadramon! You now have the power to do so!" he then faded away into nothingness again.

"C'mon." Hope said as she straped the DigiBlade to her waist. "Let's go finish this." The other two digimon nodded their agreement and the trio walked back through the they came back into the mansion section, it was all ruined again as expected. They made their way to the giant double doors and walked outside. As soon as they walked outside, Megadramon roared in show of his return and rose up from the rubble to seek any challenges.

He spotted them exiting the ruined mansion and flew over to them. "I see that you have what I've been looking for. Hand over the DigiBlade or die a slow, painful death. If you comply, I'll be happy to make your deaths as quick and painless as possible. Sort of hard to judge how that would go, though, as Ive never died myself." He smirked and evil grin.

Hope pulled out her DigiBlade. "If you want it," she yelled so he could hear her from way up in the air, "Then you'll have to take it from my cold hands." She said it with as much acidity as she could muster.

"So be it." Megadramon said happily. "Dark Side Attack!" He lifted both of his arms and the missles shot out at her and the two digimon. Hope instinctively raised her sword in preperation. Then as they came closer, she sliced at the air and the missles all exploded as if they had hit an invisible wall. Megadramon's smirk immediately disappeared.

"Now Gatomon!" Hope cried. "Digivolve!"

"Gatomon, digivolve to-!" nothing happened. "Gatomon? What gives Hope?"

"I-I dunno!" She said. "Shouldn't it have worked?"

Agumon shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to fight him the way we are!" he said. "Pepper Breath!" he opened his mouth a fire ball lew out and hit the enemy in the Chrome Digizoid face plate, doing absolutely nothing.

"Get some better aim!" Gatomon cried. "Lightning Paw!" and she struck him right in the chest, knocking him back a little. As she rebounded towards the ground, Megadramon smacked her with his metal claw and then unleashed a one-handed Dark Side Attack. Gatomon was pummeled by the attack.

"No! Gatomon!" Both Hope and Agumon cried.

"You go make sure she is ok," Agumon told Hope."I'll distract Megadramon. Pepper Breath!" another fire ball shot out at Megadramon, this time hitting the dragon in the chest. Agumon ran underneath the great digimon firing Pepper Breath after Pepper Breath at the beast's underbelly.

While Megadramon was occupied with Agumon, Hope ran over to where Gatomon lay. She picked her up gently and carresed her. "How are you?" Hope asked.

"I'm fine," Gatomon coughed. The edges of her outline began to fade little. "Hope, I think I've been defeated. My data is weak. I feel cold."

"No..." Hope said quietly. "No, don't leave me. I can't loose you."

"It can't be helped, Hope. My programming is damaged..." her frayed edges began to disintegrate into data. She was going, and there wasn't anything Hope could do. Her friend was dying.

"Don't leave me Gatomon. I need you." a tear ran down her cheek and landed on Gatomon's forhead.

"Good bye... Hope..." And she disappeared into data. But the tear stayed in place, frozen above the ground. It drifted over to the discarded DigiBlade nearby and landed on the screen of the digivice. The sword began to glow and Gatomon's data swirled around the blade and started to shimmer. Then Gatomon stood there, holding the shortsword in her paw.

"Gatomon?" Hope breathed. "I thought you..."

"You brought me back Hope." She said very calmly. "And now it's time." She held up the sword and yelled "Gatomon, digivolve to-!" she then rose up into the air and was absorbed into the light of digivolution. She dropped the sword on the ground and the digivice began to shimmer with a pink aura. "Angewomon!" and there stood before Hope, her best friend, now an angel with a metal helmet and eight wings. She was a beautiful blonde headed digimon. "Hope," she said in her new voice, which rivaled her physical beauty. "Pick up the DigiBlade. We have to go save Agumon now."

Hope nodded and did as she was told. Then Angewomon picked her up and flew towards Megadramon with unmatched speed. She dropped Hope just above the giant dragon and she plunged the sword right into his skull. He screamed as light poured out of the wound. Hope jumped off of Megadramon and landed with a soft thud next to Agumon. The two of them bolted out of there.

As Megadramon screamed in agony, Angewomon yelled "Celestial Arrow!" and she fired and arrow made of light directly into the open wound. Megadramon seemed to freeze in place. Cracks began to form from the sword gash where the arrow struck and then the digimon simply broke and disappeared as data.

Finally the battle was over. Agumon and Hope sat there, breathing very heavely. Hope sheather her sword as Angewomon flew back to them and dedigivolved back to Gatomon. Without a word she ran over to Hope and gave her a tight hug. Then she turned to Agumon and hugged him too. She even kissed him on the cheek. Agumon blushed heavely as she said "Thank you Agumon. There has been several times since we were seperated form the group when you saved me from death. Maybe you are as competent as Leomon" Agumon only blushed more fiercely. He had no idea what to say, so he just looked at her with a goofy smile instead.

Wizardmon the appeared in front of the three of them. He was strangely transparent. "Thank you, you three. You have done me and this city a great favor. But I need to ask one more favor of you, Hope. This curse was created by me. If I do not die, the curse cannot be shattered. Megadramon needed to be destroyed because we shared a soul. He is partly inside of me now. He must be destroyed completely. Only the DigiBlade of Light can destroy me now. Please, Hope, plunge your blade into me and save this city!"

"I can't do that!" Hope cried.

"How could you ask that of her, after everything shes been through?" Agumon asked.

Gatomon put her paw on Hopes shoulder. "It's the only way, Hope." she said. "You know it as well as I. Wizardmon experimented with magic he didn't understand. Now he's paid his price and made others share in his debt. Let's relieve him of his pain. We can do it together, ok?"

Hope reluctantly nodded. She pulled out the DigiBlade and held it out in fron of ther. Gatomon placed her paws on Hopes hands, and together they thrusted the point into Wizardmon's chest. He died with a smile.

Hope and the others camped for the night in the city. The other residents never returned and the buildings remained ruined. They had died the first time Megadromon and Wizardmon's fight destroyed the city, and dead they would remain now that the curse was broken. The data of the citizens returned to the Great Maker.

But something deep under ground, sealed away for a millenia had sense the massive amount of data being moved, and she stirred in her slumber. Soon, she told herself. She would awaken soon...


	14. Betrayed

For the past three days, Billy had stayed up in his tower nursing Pagumon back to health. The rabbit eared creature needed his left ear taped up and one of his eyes was bruised badly where LadyDevimon had struck him. He also had a few burn marks on him from hot candle wax. The dark Tamer would not take any visitors except LadyDevimon, who did not show up anyway out of pure anger. He hadn't eaten anything either and the only hydration he had recieved was what he could get out of the tub in the bathroom. He was now feeling very weak and had decided to retire to his bed. Pagumon laid in a smaller bed in the corner.

Billy had just started to feel the onset of sleep when there was a loud knock of the large wooden door.

"Go AWAY!" Billy yelled. He then shoved his head beneath a pillow.

The voice of a Bakemon traveled in. "The Mistress LadyDevimon requests that you see her. Immediately."

Billy let loose a heavy sigh of annoyance. "Well, Pagumon, I guess even I can't refuse an order from LadyDevimon."

Pagumon's ears pricked up. Billy put his shoes on and strapped his Broadsword DigiBlade to his back, and then carried his digigmon out the door and into the hallway. On the way down the stairs, Pagumon managed to obtain the strength to digivolve to DemiDevimon.

"I haffta look as spiffy as possible fer her highness, ya see." The digimon told him in as sour a tone as Billy had ever heard from the digimon. The little digimon jumped out of Billy's arms and flew by his side the rest of the way.

As they came upon the great hall where LadyDevimon's throne was kept, the scar across Billy's cheek had begun to burn, although he acted as if it did not bother him at all. Billy opened the huge double door which revealed a long chamber with a big rug that led up to the throne. Upon the throne did not sit LadyDevimon, but instead a cloaked digimon that Billy did not recognize. He was wearing an amulet on a chain around his neck and his face was completely obscurred except for two glowing red eyes. Two wicked horns also protruded from beneath his pointy hood. Behind him were two large tattered wings. Beside the throne knelt LadyDevimon. Billy was fairly certain that he knew who the digimon was and the certainty seemed to make the scar burn more intensely. His eyes winced a little at the pain but he regained control.

"Ahh," Daemon said as he entered. "And here must be our prodigy Tamer, Billy and his digi-pet. Come." Billy reluctantly walked over to the throne and stood directly infront of him. "Kneel before me." Billy stood silent. He bowed to nobody. "I said-!" he bagan anrily and raised his hand to Billy's face. A red light glowed in the palm and Billy's mind felt like it was about to explode. The excrutiating pain brough him to his knees. "-kneel." he finished more calmly. "Good. Yes... Good Tamer... Now what is the progress of the plan?"

LadyDevimon tilted her head upwards to address High Lord Daemon. "We have captured two DigiBlades that we believe belong to Meramera and Light. As long as we continue to control those two DigiBlades, they cannot do us harm. NeoDevimon is powerful enough to destroy anything that gets in our way."

"How did you come by these DigiBlades, William?"

Billy lifted his head at the sound of his legal name. He hesitated for a moment and then said, "I made NeoDevimon break down the Chrome Digizoid wall that barred the path. It took a few hours and I even brought in a Drimogemon to help, but we got through. After that the DigiBlade had no more defenses." Still kneeling, he put his head back down and stared at the floor. Billy knew that he should not speak unless spoken to.

"Impressive," Daemon congratulated him. "LadyDevimon, continue."

"Yes master," The she-demon spoke up. "We are using the energy from the DigiBlades to create more Black Splinters. Soon we will have enough to attack the Human realm."

"Take me to the machine." Daemon said. He rose up into air and then floated back down to land on his feet behind Billy, DemiDevimon, and LadyDevimon.

Billy and LadyDevimon rose to their feet as DemiDevimon flew up into the air to join Billy by his shoulder. LadyDevimon turned to Billy and said, "Stupid youth. You stay here. You are not permitted to see the Black Splinters jsut yet."

"Yes mistress." Billy replied annoyed. Daemon and LadyDevimon exited the room and shut the large door behind them.

"You's gots a plan, dontcha Billy?" DemiDevimon said. "I'm not so certain that I'm likin' that there grin on yer face, ya know."

"Digivolve. We are going to see what's so spectacular about these Black Splinters."

"Oh, brother," DemiDevimon said and he allowed the light of digivolution to envelope him. When he emerged, he was Devimon agian.

"Pick me up and carry me out the window." Devimon nodded and did as such. They flew down a to the very bottom of the floating castle and landed on the levitating ground that held it up. Devimon dedigivolved and they climbed through another window. They two hid behind a wall as watched their masters walked through a door and down a flight of stairs. "We have a basement floor?" Billy asked in shock.

"I s'pose so, boss. We gunna go an' check it out?"

Billy nodded and they moved over to it. Billy opened the door very quietly and tiptoed down the stairs, DemiDevimon gliding silently behind him. Finally the wall broke and they could hide behind the railing and watch the two digimon down below. Billy made sure that they could not see him by hiding in shadows as best as he could. Looking around her could see a ton of large machines. Many had moving parts that spun or oscilated. There were many gears and pipes and steam and smoke billowed out of nearly every oriface. Down closer to the floor there were converyer belts which rode on top what Billy assumed to be the Black Splinters. The demonic devices were small and pointy, with many grooves going down the sides. There also appeared to be small red streaks through them.

LadyDevimon was speaking at the time and he could just barely hear her over the roar of the machines down there. "- this is my most beautiful machine. The Black Splinter creator. It uses the stolen data that Billy has been collecting and adds a virus to it. This is the product."

"Show me how the Splinter works." Deamon commanded.

"Yes, my leige." She clapped her hands and a small group of the ghostly Bakemon brought out another digimon chained to a large metal slab. The prisoner Gabumon struggled as much as he could, but the chains held firm. "This was supposed to be Billy's original partner." She picked up a Black Splinter up from one of the conveyer belts and tossed it towards Gabumon. The Splinter flew threw the air like an arrow and the point dug itself into Gabumon's chest. The Splinter moved sickeningly slow into his flesh as he screamed a horrible noise which encassed very clearly every ounce of pain he had ever felt in his entire life. As the Splinter continued into the chest, Gabumon seemed to loose his mind. He bagan firing Blue Blaster attacks in every direction possible. Blue bolts of lightning hit everything except LadyDevimon and Daemon, who appeared to be protected by some sort of invisible sheild.

Finally the Splinter was completely immersed inot the digimon's skin. Gabumon's eyes turned a glowing red color and he stopped struggling. "Gabumon!" LadyDevimon called. He lifted his head toward her call with a vacant expression. "Blink one eye." He did as he was told. "Wiggle the fingers on your left hand." He did as he was told. "Now sing me a tune." He opened his mouth and sang 'The Wheels on the Bus'.

The two digimon began to laugh. It was a horribly evil cackle that sent a shiver down Billy's back. "Now make him digivolve." Daemon ordered. The Bakemon removed Gabumon's chains and he dropped down to the ground. He stood back up and became engrossed in the light of digivolution. The light disappeared and a BlackGarurumon stood in his place. "And he will do anything we ask?" Daemon questioned. LadyDevimon nodded. Daemon turned back to Black Garurumon and said, "Destroy yourself."

The wolf digimon howled and lunged himself right between two giant gears. The gears crushed him and he dissolved into data and disappeared. The two digimon cackled in delight agian. "But there is more," LadyDevimon informed him. "It has an effect on humans too. It is a different effect, but it is still highly usefull. A human of strong heart and mind will turn evil, and want to help us. But he will not be a mindless drone like the Gabumon you just saw. He will have the ability to think for himself. This makes the humans more useful since they can react better and more randomly. This makes them unpredictable to enemies."

"Is this how...?

"Yes, High Lord Daemon. This is how we recruited Billy."

Billy suddenly clutched at his chest as if he might feel inside of him and pull out the Splinter that he now knew resided inside of him. The Tamer fled up the stairs with his partner trailing behind. A few moments after they had reached the Great Hall agian, the huge door swung open and Daemon and LadyDevimon walked in. Billy impulsively kneelt at their return. They are controlling me... he suddenly realized.

"Boy." Daemon adressed him. "You will stand now." Billy didn't want to obey, but he knew that the alternative would be a lot worse than some hurt pride. "Show me your Digivice. Now! Hand it over."

Billy unclipped his Black Digivice from his belt and tossed it to the 'High Lord'. Daemon caught it and then and examined it. He thew it back to the digidestined and it slid to his feet. He then turned to LadyDevimon and said "Come outside here now." And the pair exited the Great Hall. Billy was feeling particularly rebellious, so he retrieved his digivice and made his way over to the great doors and listened.

"You are a foolish woman to do this to him." Daemon's voice came through in a scolding tone.

"It has made him far more powerful! The Dark Digivice is the key to his dark digivolving." LadyDevimon's voice replied in defense.

"You have put him in a weakened state. NeoDevimon does not digivolve. His light forms can and would have reached the mega level had you not done this. Now if Meramera and Light ever find a way back to the Real World and find the other digidestined before us, they will have poeple who can reach mega. You are a fool and I regret not destroying you. I am leaving now. You had better find a way to make up for this stupidity." Billy heard the swirl of a cloak and he quickly ran back to the center of the room.

LadyDevimon entered and he knelt down again. "Go back to your room. I no longer heve a need for you at the moment." Billy stood up but hesitated. She reached the throne and noticed that Billy was still standing there. "I did not studder, Billy. I said NOW!" Billy and DemiDevimon obeyed and walked out of the Great Hall and made the hike back up to their tower bedroom.

When they arrived, Billy was raging mad. "How dare she do this to me!" He unclipped the Dark Digivice and threw it agianst the wall. "Stupid piece of worthlessness! She has been keeping tings from me! She has outright lied to me!" DemiDevimon shrunk into a corner, afraid of what Billy might do. "All of the data I have been stealling... for nothing other than to build an army? What about my perfect world? I was supposed to remake the Digital World! Restart form scratch and make a Perfect World! One where I would rule with the Light by my side!" He picked up a vase and threw that against a wall, the porcelain shattered and landed everywhere. "I will get revenge on her. Perhaps Gennai was right." He calmed down a little. "Perhaps Brian's destiny and mine are intertwined..." He sat on the bed. "Brian and Hope are the only people who oppose LadyDevimon..." Billy unbelted his DigiBlade from his back and clicked his digivice into the pommel. When he did the Crest of Friendship gleamed on the back in a bright blue. He then laid the sword down and fell asleep.


	15. The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend

From the portal of light, a weapon came forth. It was a halberd with a long shaft and a decorated axe end. "It is a DigiBlade!" Leomon exclaimed. Brian stood aside and waited to see what the weapon would do. Duane climbed off of his partner and stood up. The halberd floated to right in front of the new Tamer. Duane just stared at it. "The DigiBlade has chosen you, Duane." Leomon told him. "This is fate. You must take it!" Duane tentatively reached out and wrapped his fingers around it. The DigiBlade stopped levitating at his touch and the weight in his hand felt good, as if the weapon was made for him specifically.

The wall closed then, hiding the brilliant light behind it. The digivice that was still in the wall floated out and zoomed to a space at the top of the halberd and set itself in with a click. Brian noticed that the purple symbol inside was burned to the back of the digivice. Leomon noticed it too and exclaimed, "That is the Crest of Knowlegde! I am truly honored to be partnered with one as great as you, Tamer of Knowledge!" Leomon stood up and sheathed his sword.

"Wow," Brian said. "That was nifty. Are ya stoked that you won your first battle?" Duane nodded uncertainly. "Buck up pal. You got a cool toy to go with your digivice. Now let's find a way out of here."

"I fell in through a hole, back out that door, just before Datamon captured me." Leomon pointed to the door that Brian had come in through the first time. "I'm certain that I can get us back up there."

So the trio began the long walk back to the room with the open ceiling. When they got there, Lemon wrapped his arms around both of their chests and he began a series of wall jumps until they were out. Duane was holding very tightly to his DigiBlade. When they finally dropped back down to the unusually smooth ground of this area, they realized that it was dark outside. "We've been down there a lot longer than we thought." Leomon informed them. "See the moon and the stars? We were down there for a few days at least."

"How?" The two humans asked in unison. Brian looked at Duane. He wasn't used to there being somebody else asking the questions.

"My guess would be that time moves slower down there, for whatever reason. What was Datamon researching down there by the way? Do you know Duane?"

"Uhh... He asked a lot of questions about a DigiBlade and the Crest of Knowledge thing. He even brought me the digivice a lot and quizzed me on how to summon the blade."

"That makes sense." Leomon said.

"Well, I vote that we make camp for the night and then continue on our way. We need to catch up to Billy and Hope and we also need to find Agumon and Gatomon." Brian suggested. The other two agreed and they set up camp as best as they could. They didn't have a tent or any other supplies anymore and there wasn't anything to burn in this barren section of the Wastes. so they settled with just sleeping in the dust on the ground. That night, Brian told Duane about everything that had happened to him in the Digital Wastes since he arrived four months ago.

When they woke up, the two digivices began to beep and flash. Brian took his from his belt and Duane unclicked his from his DigiBlade. "What's going on with them?" Duane asked Brian.

"We've picked up a distress signal." Brian answered. "It might be Hope!" Brian suddenly realized and bolted off in the direction of the signal.

"Hey!" Duane called. "Wait for us!" he attached his digivice back to his weapon and he and Leomon charged after him. Brian was so certain that it was Hope's digivice that had send the signal that he was actually a little dismayed to find a giant floating castle off in the horizon instead. His first thought was that this must be LadyDevimon's castle. His second thought was that if they had already reached her castle, then he may to late to save her.

"What," Duane said in a tone of amazement as he and Leomon had finally caught up to Brian, "is that?"

"I believe that it is LadyDevimon's castle." Brian told him. The caslte was huge and made of black stone. It floated up in the air and there was no way for anybody to get up there without wings. "Do you think Hope is up there?" Brian asked Leomon.

"I dunno." The warrior replied. "It's possible. That's where the signal is coming from, right?"

Brian checked his digivice just to make sure and then nodded. The three stood there, awe struck at the complexity and hugeness of the castle in the air. And then suddenly, Brian began to walk towards it. Leomon and Duane exchange looks of concern, but followed him anyway. "What do you plan to do when we reach it?" Leomon questioned Brian.

"Beats me."

"You don't even know where your digimon is," Duane reminded him.

"Don't care."

"This is a suicide mission," Leomon informed.

"Then I'll die keeping a promise. I said I would rescue her. I didn't come all this way to turn around." And he kept on going.

The party finally reached the shadow of the huge castle. They stared up at it. Just as Brian's neck bagan to hurt, Duane said, "Sooo... how do we get up?" Brian tilted his head down to look at him. That was a good question, he thought.

But almost is response to Duane's question, a rope ladder fell from the sky just a few feet from them. they all looked up. It lead all the way up to a small cave in the rock that held the castle up. "Its a trap." Duane speculated.

"Yeah, probably." Brian agreed.

"We're going up anyway, aren't we?" Duane asked.

"You're catching on, Tamer." Brian replied with a grin. He then grabbed hold of the ladder and put his feet in the rungs, testing it to make sure it wouldn't fall. He then began to climb up. Duane and Leomon followed him up. Leomon did not like this idea, but decided that if his Tamer trusted Brian, then he would follow him too.

The party finally reached the top of the ladder and climbed up into the cave. Brian laid on the ground, his arms seemed to be on fire from the long climb. Duane fell over next to him. When Leomon reached the top he vaulted up into the cave and landed with cat like agility. Brian looked around. Except for the three of them, the cave looked empty. The stalctites and stalagmites dotted the cave and he could hear the drip drip of water somewhere farther back. The Ladder was tied to a rock laying a few feet to their right.

"Hello!" Duane called. His echoe came back to them and reverberated throughout the cave.

"Don't do that!" Brian said. The three of them walked a little ways in. "Hadn't we all just agreed that this is a trap?"

"This isn't a trap." A voice from behind them said. They all turned around and there stood Billy with DemiDevimon floating by his side. "I need your help, Brian."

Brian couldn't believe what he had just heard. Billy needed his help? What was going on here? "How dare you ask me for help. You tried to kill me. You mercilessly beat me and left me for dead and then you kidnapped Hope! Where is she? Release her!"

He laughed at him. "Oh your stupidity amazes me. Hope was rescued days ago by an old man named Gennai. She is no longer in my costudy. Truthfully, after I learned that you were not dead, I thought that she had returned to you. By the way, where is Agumon? It might be hard to work together if he isnt here."

"Thats none of your business!" Brian said hotly.

Billy smiled and it infuriated Brian. "Very well, Meramera. Who are you anyway?" He turned to Duane. "You are a Tamer right?"

"Yeah! My name is Dua-"

"I shouldnt have asked." Billy said. "Your voice bothers me. And this must be your partner, correct?"

"Yes," Duane tried again, "this is leo-"

"You didn't hear me the first time did you?" Billy asked with more than a hint of distaste. "Your voice doesn't need to be outside of your mouth. I dont know if I can say it any more clearly." he turned to Leomon. "You there, digimon. Speak your name.

"Leomon." he replied.

Brian cut in at this moment, "Okay, introductions are over with. Now explain why I should help you with anything!"

"Simpleton. We have a common goal. We both want LadyDevimon destroyed. After that I will let you go home. I know where the portal back is."

The thought of going home made Brian's heart skipped a beat. "Can you really do that? Send me home, I mean."

"Yes, of course."

"I wont leave until I know Hope is safe."

"The distress sinal that I sent is still playing. It covers a huge radius. As long as she has her digivice, Light will find us."

"And how will I know that you aren't going to double cross us?"

Billy unstrapped the sword from his back and set it on the ground. He then kicked it over to Brian's feet. Brian looked at it. The Dark Digivice was attached to the pommel of the Blade. "Now I cant digivolve. This is a token of my temporary fealty to you."

Brian picked up the sword and strapped it to his own back. "We will wait here for Hope." Brian said.

"Very well." Billy agreed. "You get two days. If she isn't here by then, we will attack without her." He and DemiDevimon began moving past the trio and back into the back of the cave, which Brian assumed lead back to the castle area.

"Oh and Billy," Brian said without turning around to face him. Billy stopped walking and listened. "If we get double crossed, I'm going to kill you personally."

Billy smirked and said, "Of course. I wouldn't expect it any other way." And then he disappeared into the darkness.


	16. LadyDevimon

Hope awoke to the sound of her Digivice beeping and flashing. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and picked up the short sword that lay next to her. She detached her digivice and examined it. Her eyes grew wide as she realized what she was seeing. A distress signal!"

"Gatomon! Agumon!" She yelled at the two, shaking them.

"What's going on Hope?" Gatomon asked groggily. Agumon rolled back over and snored. Gatomon kicked him and he sat bolt upright. "Pay attention, dimwit."

"What's up?" he asked half asleep still.

"Take a look!" she handed them the digivice.

Their eyes grew wide at what the saw. "This is a-" Gatomon began.

"It's a digivice!" Agumon finished.

"Of course its a digivice." Gatmon said as she hit him. "Hope owns it. Has for a while now."

"I meant the signal is from a digivice. It's got to be Brian!"

Hope imagined meeting back up with Brian. She liked the idea. At the same time though, she didn't want to join in this war. She just wanted to go home and she knew that if she didn't get out soon that she would be stuck in a battle that wasn't hers. This was a quarrel between Brian and Billy and if they were childish enough to bring not one, but two worlds into it then she didn't want to be around either one of them. "What should we do?" she asked.

"We have to go see!" Agumon siad. "It's Brian! I know it!"

"And Leomon will be with him too!" Gatomon exclaimed.

Outvoted, Hope had no choice but to acompany them to the source of the mysterious signal. The group had left the Ghost Town early yesterday morning and had walked away from the coast line, reentering the Digital Wastes. The area that they were in now was more barren than other areas that Hope had seen. The ground was ocmpletely flat and there were no sign of any plant life or rocks or depressions or anything. It was as flat as could be.

They began to walk in the direction of the signal until they saw a black castle floating in the sky. "What is it?" Agumon asked in amazement.

"Its a castle." Gatomon told him with a sour tone.

Hope looked at her digivice. "I think the signal is coming from up there in the castle." She clicked the digivice back into the pommel of the DigiBlade. They walked up to the castle until the shadow of the of the great building completely engulfed them. Hope pulled out her Blade and had Gatomon digivolve.

"Gatomon, digivolve to-!" and the holy angel of light stood in her place. "Angewomon." And great digimon picked up Hope and Agumon and lifted them into the sky. They reached the front gate and forced their way in. Behind the gate was a small group or Bakemon.

"Halt!" one said," in the name of her highness LadyDevimon!"

Agumon and Angewomon quickly dispatched the Bakemon. "So this is LadyDevimon's castle." Hope said. "Well, I guess I made it here after all. C'mon, let's go make some noise." She smiled and the three ran off in search of their enemy.

Brian, Duane, and Leomon had decided that they did not trust Billy, but would work with him anyway, keeping their eyes peeled for any suspiciouse behavior. They spent the night in the cave without incident, however they did not lower their guard and kept a watch. They switched watch every hour.

Around midday, Billy arrived fromt he darkness of the cave with a plate of food. It looked mostly like slop."I managed to steal some of this from the kitchen. Eat it and like it. You will need strength for the upcoming battle." He dropped the tray down infront of them, splattering the slop in every direction.

It was then that they heard a lot of banging and crashing from above them. Rocks and dust fell from the cave ceiling and the floor shook. "What is that?" Brian asked.

"My guess would be that we have an intruder." Billy replied. "And I can only think of one person who would be attacking us that isn't already in this room."

Brian immediately stood up and bolted further into the cave. "Hey!" Billy called after him. "I have to show you where to go! You can't just run off!" And he, Duane, and Leomon all ran after Brian.

When they finally caught up with him, they had to convince Brian that they couldn't just run in there unprepared. After a longish arguement, Brian agreed because they wouldn't let him go any deeper into the castle if he didn't. "Good," Billy said. "Now we can do this the right way. C'mon DemiDevimon. We'll lead the way."

"I got's yer back, boss!" The little digimon told him. The rest of them followed Billy intot he castle, following a trial of destruction left behind by Hope. Vases were shattered, drapes torn, the floor and walls were cracked and crumbled. Everything she left behind her had been devastated.

"I'm going to give you props Brian." Billy told him. "Your digimon and Gatomon are tiny, but they can do some damage."

"Uhh... thank... you?" Brian said. It felt weird to thank somebody he hated. He made a mental not to ever do it again. Whent he reached the Great Hall, the door was blasted apart and inside was exactly what Brian was hoping for,

"Hope!" He ran over to where she stood and embraced her. Out of surprise she dropped her sword, but hugged him back nonetheless. He pulled away and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course I am." She replied oddly. "I've had Gatomon and Agumon with me the whole time."

Brian had almost forgotten about Agumon. He turned around to see if he was there. "Agumon!" he spotted the little dinosaur and an angel digimon with eight wings doing battle with LadyDevimon. They were loosing. Brian pulled out his digivice and activated it. "Agumon! you have to digivolve!"

Agumon felt the power from the digivice for the first time in days as he yelled "Agumon, digivolve to-!" the sphere of light wrapped around him and finally there stood a mighty dinosaur with a skull helmet and blue stripes. "Greymon!" The champion form of Agumon yelled. His muscles rippled with the joy of the power the felt once again. As LadyDevimon became distracted by Agmon's digivolution, the angel digimon yelled "Celestial Arrow!" and shot an arrow of light at LedyDevimon. It was a direct hit!

"Oh, by the way Brian," Hope told him, "Gatomon can digivolve now!" She smiled at him in a gloating way.

"What? How?" He asked her. She showed him the DigiBlade with the digivice attached to the pommel. Something suddnely clicked in his mind. Billy's digimon first digivolved to Ultimate after he obtained the sword strapped to Brian's back, now Hope can digivolve to Ultimate. Duane also had a DigiBlade.

He turned around at once. "Duane! Activate your DigiBlade!"

"How? Why?" he called back form across the Great Hall..

"Because, Leomon will digivolve! We need him to fight!"

"Wait," Billy said to Duane, "Are you two only just now figuring out what the DigiBlades are for? I had assumed that maybe you were a better Tamer than Brian because of the fact that you have one before him but I guess you're both just stupid."

"Okay smarty pants," Duane said to the dark boy. "If you're so great, then tell me how to activate this."

"The symbol on the back of the digivice. The Crest. You must show that you have the power to weild that Crest."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Duane complained. "Doesn't matter though. I'm not going to fight anyway."

"Duane," Leomon put his hand on his Tamer's shoulder. "Let me fight. They need me."

"No. We don't have to fight. They can take care of it."

Meanwhile, LadyDevimon had recovered from being attacked by Angewomon and began attacking Greymon. "Darkness Wave!" She called and unleashed a swarm of bat like creatures at him. Greymon used a Nova Blast attack which stopped the bats. The evil digimon then attacked Angewomon with a Darkness Spear attack. Her hand became a long pointy spear which she used to stab at the angel with. Greymon ran over to where their battle was held and jumped onto her back. His weight was enough to bring LadyDevimon tumbling to the ground. He then sprayed her with a close range Nova Blast which left the floor scorched and blackened. LadyDevimon mustered the power to lift the great brute up into the ceiling. He hit it with a crash, sending chunks or black stone falling down. She then threw him down to the ground and he hit very hard.

"Greymon!" Brian cried out. "You have to get up!"

The giant dinosaur attempted to lift hmself but he dropped back down again. Above him, Angewomon had charged at LadyDevimon, who simply dodged her attack and then grabbed her blonde hair as she passed by. LadyDevimon then threw Angewomon into a wall where she hit and caused cracks to spread out from where the collision ocurred. LadyDevimon then flew down to where Greymon lay, still unable to get up. She wrapped her claws around his ankle and lifted him back up into the air. She spung him around and then threw him into her throne which shattered and crumbled into rubble.

What was beneath her throne shocked everybody. The battle stopped for that breif minute. "The DigiBlade is there!" LadyDevimon screamed with anger. She then charged at where the digivice shaped depression sat on the floor where the throne once was. But Greymon managed to get up. The two of them stood there, their hands locked together as each pushed. "Brian, hurry!" Greymon grunted through gritted teeth. "Get the DigiBlade. I know its yours! I don't know how much longer I can hold her still!"

Without even thinking, Brian rushed over to where the two digimon stood frozen, trying to get the best of each other. He slid underneath then and knelt down in front of where the throne once was. Without even looking at the Crest inside of the depression, he shoved his digivice in there. As the floor opened up to reveal to great light behind it, LadyDevimon screamed. "The Blade is mine! If I can't have it..." She twisted Greymon around and threw him agianst a wall to the left, "...then you can't have your little girlfriend! Darkness Wave!" The bats flew out at Hope.

"Brian!" Billy called. Throw me my sword!" Brian without even considering that Billy might double cross him, unsheathed the swrord and threw it to Billy who caught it by the hilt. "Digivolve DemiDevimon!"

"DemiDevimon, Digivolve to-" and then something that could not be predicted by anybody happened. Billy's digivice turned white and when DemiDevimon emerged from the digivolution he was not Devimon. He was another angel digimon. This digimon was covered in white and had a blue sash. His long blonde hair flowed from a metal helmet and his six wings shimmered behind him. "-Angemon!"

The new digimon, Angemon, flew in front of Hope and yelled, "Hand of Fate!" The glowing fist the flew from his hand demolished the bats.

"How can this be?" LadyDevimon exclaimed just as Angewomon bashed her over the head with a fist. The she-demon crashed into the floor, where Angewomon then gabbed her hair and threw her against a nearby wall. "Don't you dare to ever touch my hair again!" Angewomon yelled to her.

The DigiBlade had emerged from the floor where Brian still knelt. It was a great, twin bladed battle axe, so large that it was clearly a two handed weapon. Brian reached out and grabbed it with both hands. The weight was perfect for him. He knew that he could swing this Blade effortlessly and still cleave a man in two. The floor closed and his digivice set itself in the shaft between the blades. A symbol that resembled the sun, the Crest of Courage, was emplazoned on the back in bright orange. "Greymon! Digivolve!"

The beast could feel the power within him. He was able to stand again and yell, "Greymon, digivolve to-!" The data swirled around the mighty dinosaur. Around his left arm formed a metallic claw, his skull helmet was now covered with Chrome Digizoid, and his chest housed two small missles. Out of his metal helmet flowed red hair and from behind him flew out his wings, purple and tattered, but still allowing him to fly. Added to all of this was the fact that he had double in size! "MetalGreymon!" The armourized dragon finished.

"MetalGreymon! Angewomon" Angemon called. "Lets finish her together!" The two other digimon nodded and they all let loose their most powerful attacks. "Hand of Fate!" and the golden fist rang out of Angemon's hand.

"Celestial Arrow" Angewomon conjured her light arrow and shot it at the enemy.

"Giga Blaster!" MetalGreymon's chest plate opened up and two missels flew out.

All of these attacks struck LadyDevimon right in the chest and she crashed through the wall and fell all the way down to the ground, far too weakened to get up. She laid there on the ground , blood running from her mouth when Daemon appeared form nowhere. "Please... High Lord Daemon... Save me!"

"And why would I do that, LadyDevimon?" The cloaked digimon asked with a quiet chuckle. He then put his foot on her head. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just kill you now."

LadyDevimon's eyes grew wide, "I'm your most loyal servant! I would do anything for you!"

"You have outlived your usefullness." She got to look at the Wasteland that she had forced into creation one last time before Daemon crushed her skull with his foot. She disolved into data and the wind blew away what was left of her. He then cloaked himself in darkness and rematerialzed in the Great Hall where the battle had taken place. The children were celebrating their new victory and had not yet noticed that he had appeared. He swirled himself into another cloak of darkness and rematerialized behind Billy. Before Billy could cry out, he and his digimon had been taken from there. And the others were none the wiser.

MetalGreymon dedigivolved to Koromon because a huge anount of his energy had been used up. Angewomon returned to her rookie form, Salamon. Leomon and Duane ran over to them to congradulate them on a good battle. Brian sheathed his battle axe onto his back and then picked up Koromon. He looked around for Billy so he could congradulate him, but he was nowhere to be found.

"What's the matter Brian?" Hope asked him. "What's with the frown? We just beat LadyDevimon!"

"Did any of you see where Billy went?" he asked. They all looked around and then shook their heads. Brian then walked out of the Great Hall.

"Hey!" Duane called after him. "Where are you going?"

"LadyDevimon has a Digiport in here somewhere, remember? Billy was supposed to show us but he just left instead. So I'm going to go look for it."

"I think I actually saw it when I was trashing the place." Salamon told them. "Follow me!" and she ran off down the hall. They all followed her and she brought them to a small room with a medium sized ring in the center. The ring had a swirling portal inside of it. "This is it!"

"I cant believe it..." Brian said. "We finally get to go home.

"Yes, you do," a man's voice from behind them said. "Most of you don't know me so I'll introduce myself. I am Gennai. Beyond this door is what you in the Real World call San Diego, California. Step through and you will be there. But in San Diego there is much more for you as Digidestined to do. You must locate the other Digidestined who are willing to fight and you must bring them back here to the Digital World. When you come back, many years will have passed here. This realm may turn out better or worse than when you left. But you must find the others. They are crucial."

"Good bye Gennai," Hope said, and the digidestined and their digimon walked through the portal and back to the Real World.


	17. Homecoming

Daemon dropped Billy off inside of a room with no windows and now doors. There was no possibility of escape. Daemon shattered Billy's DigiBlade and disolved his Digivice into data. He then returned his digimon to the in-training level, Pagumon.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Billy yelled at him? "What did I do?"

"You have proven yourself useless for the moment. I must conceal you away so you do not damage my plans." and then Daemon disappeared in a swoosh of darkness.

Billy sat down next to Pagumon and became very angry.

The mysterious prescence locked away beneath the Digital World suddenly awakened. "Now is the time..." She stretched and then came out of her cell. She emerged in the same room that Billy was locked away in.

Billy stood up to look at the intruder. "Who the hell are you?" He asked her angrily. She was cloaked in purple and had pale white skin. Her hair was jet black and elaborately decorated with lots of gold. She also had four pitch black wings. She was very beautigul, Billy thought.

"I am Lilithmon, silly boy. And I am your new master."

"I no longer bow to anyone."

"I can revive your blade and your digivice and give your digimon the power to digivolve again. And above all, I can set you free and show you how to go to the Real World." Billy began listening more intently to her words, hanging on every syllable. If what she spoke was true, then she could be a very valuable ally. "Ahh, I see you are interested." She continued. "I can help you get revenge on those that have hurt you, child. And I have information that you may find valuable. The DigiBlades that you thought were Brian and Hope's in fact belong to other Tamers, as I'm sure youve figured out by now. I know who they are and where they can be found. One of them will interest you greatly." She then walked over to Billy and put her hand on his face. She ran her fingers through his hair and then touched his scar. Finally she rested her hand on his chest and he felt a warmth there. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was standing alone with DemiDevimon near what appeared to be the floating castle. Excpet that it wasn't floating anymore.

LadyDevimon's castle had fallen back down to the ground without its master to hold it up. He also noticed that his DigiBlade was strapped to his back, the blade was perfectly flawless again. Attached to the guard was his Black Digivice.

Lilithmon's voice sounded in his mind, "There are two digiblades in that pile of rubble. Find them and then I will teach you how to get a hold of their owner's hearts and minds. Your dream of a perfect world is still attainable. You just need my help."

He did as he was told.

Brian, Hope, Duane, and their digimon felt a sensation of falling as the portal absorbed them. They flew throught the different networks and connections that tunneled between the Digital World and the Real World. They could see all sorts of data moving in seemingly random locations all around them. It was amazing how much was going on in this tunnel.

And then, all of a sudden, they hit the pavement ground of a wet alleyway. Brian lifted his face from a puddle and looked around. The alley was dark and creepy. He could hear a siren going off in the distance and somebody yelling in a nearby apartment. Above them clothes were hung to dry on wires that were attached to the walls of both the builings that lined the alley. Behind them were overflowed garbage cans and carboard boxes that were stacked higher than he was tall. There was a cat sleeping in one of the boxes, a dead mose laying near it. Brian shook his head and looked back down at his refleciton in the puddle.

The guy that stared back at him was somebody who was leaner than the one he used to know. His face and clothes were covered in the dirt from the Digital Wastes and his face showed many visible cuts and bruises. He could only imagine what the rest of his body looked like. He stood up and scooped Koromon into his arms.

"How long have we been gone, do you think?" Brian asked to whoever would answer.

"I wouldn't know." Duane said as he too stood up. "I had been locked up in that closet for most of the time and even then time moved slower in there."

Hope sat up and leaned against the wall, Salamon walked over and sat by her. She lifter her hand and rested it on her digimon's head, gently stroking her. "I don't know either. I stopped counting the days after the weeks started setting in."

"Hey, where's Leomon?" Duane asked, looking around with a look of distress.

"Here I am!" a small red four legged creature at Duane's feet replied. "Except I'm Elecmon now. Rookie level! I don't actually know why I dedigivolved." He said thoughfully.

"Maybe the portal takes away some of our energy!" Koromon suggested from Brian's arms. "How are you feeling Brian?"

"Now that you mention it, I am tired too." Brian admitted. "C'mon, I bet you guys can hang out at my place for a little while. I'm sure my grandparents wouldn't mind too much if we explain that you dont have anywhere else to go."

"Ok," Duane agreed. "But how are we going to explain away the monsters with us?"

"Thats a good question, Brian." Hope said.

"Why do you have to hide us?" Koromon asked, confused.

"Becuase humans don't like monsters." Salamon said sleepily.

"But, Brian is a human and he likes me." Koromon told her.

"Thats different." Salamon replied.

"How?" Brian's digimon asked agian.

"It just is!" Elecmon said.

Each of the Tamers picked up their digimon if they weren't already holding them and they walked out of the alleyway. A car drove by and somebody threw a glass bottle at them. The bottle broke at their feet as the driver yelled, "Hey, aren't you a little old for stuffed animals?" He then laughed and continued driving.

"This place is terrible!" Hope exclaimed.

"Yeah, but its home for me." Brian replied sadly.

"Do you even know where we are?" Duane asked.

"Not particularly, no." Brian said. he laughed and then picked a direction and began walking. Without a better plan the other two followed as well. They walked down the street until they came to a bus stop and they sat on the bench there until Brian though outloud,

"So, how are we going to pay for the fare?" He looked at his friends. "Anybody have any money?"

All three of them pulled out their pockets and revealed that nobody had anything of true use in the Real World. "So now what are we supposed to do?" Hope asked.

"Well," Brian began, "How about we call me grandparents? We could probably find a restaurant or something somewhere that'll let us use a phone. And maybe they'll have a paper too. I'm curious how long we've been gone."

They managed to find a small cafe nearby run by an elderly woman. "Excuse me," Hope said to her as they walked up, "Would you

happen to have today's newspaper?"

"Why yes, dearie." The old woman turned to them. She was short and had her white hair in a bun. She examined the three of them and their "stuffed animals" thorugh her thick glasses. "Here it is, right here." She handed Hope a small bundle of papers. The date said June 8th, 2010. Brian recognized the date as the day that he first came to the Digital World.

"I'm sorry miss," Brian said to her. "But we asked for today's paper."

The old woman looked at him as if he was stupid. "This is today's paper. I picked it up just this morning!" And then she turned around and began watering her plants. Brian, Koromon, Hope, Salamon, Duane, and Elecmon made their way a few feet back away from her, so she couldn't hear them.

"That's the date that I came to the DW." Brian told them.

"Me too." Hope said.

"And me also." Duane told them. "But I though we all came to the DW months apart?"

"That's exactly what happened." Brian said. "I had been there three months when I found Hope, who had only been there a couple of days at the time. You were probably there a lot longer than both os us Duane, maybe even longer than Billy for all I know."

"So then how did we all leave at the same day?" Hope asked. The digimon listened very intently the whole time. With the way they moved and hung on their words, it was surpirsing that anyone could think of them as a toy.

"Maybe the Digital World moves more quickly than the Real World?" Duane suggested. "It makes sense. If the difference was all that great then we could have enetered minutes or seconds after each other, but in the Digital World those precious moments counted as months."

The idea seemed almost impossible to Brian. Its not like you haven't seen the impossible before in the Digital World, he argued with himself. "Okay, I think I can handle that theory as truth for now, since it makes sense." Brian said. Hope nodded her agreement. They walked back over to the old woman and tapped on her shoulder. "Excuse us for one last time," Brian said to her.

She turned around again and said, somewhat annoyed, "Yes, yes? What do you want?"

"Do you have a phone we could use for a minute?" She handed him a cell phone from her purse and continued to water her plants.

Brian dialed his number. He heard it ring three times before somebody picked it up. "Hello?" His younger sister's voice came through the other end.

"Deonna! Oh its so good to hear your voice agian!" Brian laughed in delight.

"Brian? You're weird. Nanna says get home now by the way. She's kinda mad. You were supposed to be home an hour ago." It almost bothered Brian that he didn't hear any concern in her voice. He reminded himself that she saw him earlier that morning though.

"Ugh... this difference in time is annoying..." Brian mumbled/

"Huh?"

"Oh, uh, nothing. Never mind. Can you have Nanna come pick me and some friends up?"

"Just two."

He heard some distant mumbling and then Deonna came back and said, "Ok thats fine. Where are you?"

He told her the address and then he hung up. Brian then turned back to the old lady and tried to hand her phone back to her but she adamantally insisted that she had never seen that phone before and that she did not own a cell phone. Brian set it down on the table when she turned around again and then walked back over to his friends saying, "Old bat's lost her marbles..." The other two laughed and they found a bench to sit at nearby. Within a half hour a older woman in a white expedition drove up to them. "Let's go guys." Brian said smiling. It had been forever since he had seen his grandparents put he needed to remember to control himself since she had seen him just this morning.

Brian climbed into the passenger seat and Duane and Hope got in the back, all holding on to thier digimon. Nanna asked them when they

got in, "Where did you get those?"

"Oh um.. we..." Brian tried to think.

"We won them at the fair!" Duane laughed nervously.

"They look hideous." Nanna replied and kept drving. Koromon shot her a sour look when she wastn paying attention.

"Can these two spend the night for a while?" Brian asked.

"Well, I suppose that would be ok." she said back to them.

Forty minutes later they arrived at the apartment complex and they all walked up to where Brian lived. When they got up there, Brian showed them his room. "Well, this is it!" He told them as he set Koromon down on the bed. The other two did the same and then Brian shut he door. Brian then sat on the bed nex t to Koromon who was playing with Elecmon and Salamon. Duane leaned against the wall and Hope sat in a nearby computer chair. "So, we are back the same day that we left?" Brian asked jsut ot make sure.

"It seems that way," Hope replied. Nobody seems to know that we're gone.

"But even in the short time that we've been here in the RW," Brian continued, "months had already passed int he Digital World?"

"It's likely." Duane agreed. "I wonder what it's going to look when we go back."

"Back?" Hope asked him. "I'm not going back. I'm going to find a way back to Minnesota and them I'm washing my hands of the DW. That's that. If you want to go back thats fine but leave me out of it."

"But Gennai sai-"

"Screw Gennai." Brian said. "Im with Hope. Koromon can live here with me but other than that I'm done with digimon and the Digital Wastes."

Duane looked down at the floor. "Guess I have to go back to Oregon then, don't I?"

"Do whatever you want." Brian said. "Like i said, you guys can call your parents and let them know where you are and then you can stay here for a while. I'm going to go get us all some food. I'll be right back" Brian stood up and left the room. He got all sorts of food for them to eat, and he made a point to make Koromon his first hot dog. When he walked back in, They were all sitting around his T.V. and they had it on the news channel. Brian set the tray of food down on the bed and the digimon started pigging out when he went to go see what was happening on the T.V.

"Breaking news," a man was saying. "There is a strangely thick fog over the San Diego Beach at the moment and everybody who has entered it has not returned. A squadron of police was sent in earlier. No radio communication has been sent back, although multiple attempts have been made on this side..." The picture then went to a hazy white fog over a beach. Brian noticed a figure inside of it. It looked an awful lot like-

"Shellmon!" Brian exclaimed. "There is a digimon inside of that fog!"

"What?" Duane asked. "How?"

"I don't know! but!" Brian replied. "But its there! I saw it!"

"Should we do something?" Duane asked.

"Why should we do anything?" Hope asked back. "I told you, I'm done with all of this digimon stuff."

"Well, somebody has to do something," Brian told her. "And as I see it, We're the only ones that have any clue as to what to do. I won't go back to the DW but i will help out when im the only one who can." Brian turned around to pick up Koromon, but was surprised to see Agumon sitting there with the other rookies, holidng his stomach.

"Ooooh," He moaned. "That hot dog was amazing..." The tray was empty and they all had a look of fullness to them.

"You know," Brian said, "that food was for all of us. Humans included..."

"This just in!" the T.V. started again, "We have reports that the fog has disappeared. The men that were sent in have not been discovered but we will conitnue to search."

"See?" Hope began. "We don't need to do anything. The digimon cant get out of the fog."

"But what about the people that went in and never came out?" Duane asked her. "They still can't find them, even after the fog went away. What if they're in the Digital Wastes right now? Or worse, maybe shellmon killed them and ate their faces or somehting?"

"That last bit was dumb," Brian said, "but still, Duane has a point. We can't continue to ignore the digimon that are coming through. And what if it's not that Shellmon couldn't get out, but maybe he just didn't want to? Or maybe a stronger digimon could come through? Shellmon is only champion, you know."

Hope looked out the window. "I'm not going back."

"Neither am i," Brian informed her, "But I'm not going to ignore that the digimon can come into our world. C'mon, let's get some sleep. It's been a very long day."

"You're telling me," Duane said, "My day has lasted for quite a few months." he smiled at his joke but nobody else did. Brian made them a place ot sleep on the floor and then he turned out the light and laid in his bed with Agumon.


	18. Another Tamer

Billy and DemiDevimon dug through the pile of rubble for weeks, moving what they could until they finally reached the bottom floor. They were really excited when they first moved the large boulder that concealed the door to the machine room. He was surprised to see that the room was still mostly intact. He opened the door and walked down the steps and then he reached the dark room where he had learned that he had been betrayed.

In the very back of the room, past the large machines that still we pumping out the Black Splinters and billowing steam, laid an hourglass shaped containment area. Inside the top glass floated horizantally a spinning katana. In the lower one there was a large spear which also floated horizantally, spinning. A bolt of purple electricty was flowing out of them up a glass tube and into machine above it. Billy assumed that it was a collector for the energy that it was sucking out.

DemiDevimon attacked with a Bat Flutter attack and smashed the glass with his wings. Billy then snatched up the two DigiBlades and began walking away from there. As he was walking back to the stairs, the machines bagan turning off. The gauges stopped spinning, the conveyer belts stopped moving, all the moving parts just quit, and the steam and smoke no longer billowed out. He passed one of the conveyer belts and looked down and the Black Splinters that he had unknowingly created. He thought for a long moment, standing there in silience as he stared at the things he hated most.

"Wass 'a matter, Boss?" DemiDevimon asked worriedly. "Boss?" He flew over to Billy's shoulder and perched himself there. "Oi, Boss! Wake up, man!" Billy jumped at the sound of the voice so close to his ear. "Yous needs to get wit' the big picture. Whatcha thinkin 'bout anyways?"

"Nothing. Just..." Billy looked back down at the Splinters on the conveyer belt. He then reached down and grabbed a handful. "Grab as many as you can. We are going to need these."

"Aye, aye, Boss!" And then he flew off, picking up as many as he could in the large talons on his feet.

Billy then said quietely to himself, "As much as I hate these things, we need them."

"Wassat, Boss?"

"Nothing. I didn't say anything. Shut up and get back to work. Do as I say!" DemiDevimon and Billy collected as many of the Black Splinters as they could hold and then they climbed back out into the heat of the Wastes. "Ok, Lilithmon!" Billy yelled out at the horizon. "Come out! I've got the Blades! Now show yourself!"

Billy felt a clawed hand wrap around his chest and a voice whisper in his ear, "Of course you have them, dear boy." Lilithmon put her hand on his face as she went around to the front of Billy so he could see her. She ran her fingers through his hair on the side of his face. He glared at her as she said, "Now I have another task for you, dear."

"And this task would be?"

She circled him, keeping her hands on him, running them over his chest and back. She got behind him again and spoke in his other ear this time, "I need you to find me a digiport to the Real World. We will start our campaign for supremecy there. And then we need to recruit the two other boys who will join our cause. They will have little choice," She moved back in front of him, gently draggin one of her fingernail-like claw across his cheek. Billy noticed that they were painted a bright purple color, "I'm sure that you will be able to convince them with the new toys that you picked up in there." She rested her finger lightly on his lips.

Billy lightly knocked her hand away and spoke, "How am I supposed to find a digiport? As far as I knew, LadyDevimon had the only one."

She put her arms around him and pulled Billy close to her. Lilithmon's face was centimeters away from his and he could smell her warm breath as it breezed against his skin. "Why, dear boy, you're a smart kid," she whispered quietly, bringing one of her hands to the back of his head. "I'm sure that sooner or later you would have figured out that Daemon has a digiport in his fortress." She slowly closed her eyes and then licked her lips. When she opened them again, Billy was still glaring. She let out a small giggle and turned away from him. "And then after you invade Daemon's fortress and enter the digiport, you will be back in the human realm. I will stay here and collect an army of digimon for you while you collect an army of Digidestined."

"Let's assume that I did do this for you. So then what? I grab my army through some magical means and then waltz back here to the Digital World? I don't even know how I got here the first time, you know."

She turned back towards him with a seductive smile. "Getting to the Digital World is easy enough. You just need a digivice. I'll tell you every thing you need to know later." She then inched back over to Billy and stood behind him agian, putting her hands on his shoulders and rubbing them.

"What about Meramera and Light?" Billy asked, shaking her off and turning towards her. "They are back in the Real World, you know. They will try to stop me."

"They do have names." She replied, brining her face close to his again, "I believe that they are called Brian and Hope."

"I know what their names are!" Billy snapped.

"Then use them." Lilithmon snapped back."They are a part of you whether you like it or not. Kill Brian and marry Hope, but they are still a part of you. You cannot change that by calling them the names that the prophecies have given them. You cannot hide form the fact that, in the grand scheme, of things they are just as important as you. You are all playing with forces that you can neither control or understand. A game of chess far mor complex than what you could ever hope to comprehend. There is a power struggle in between the two worlds and if it is not balanced out soon, then one of the worlds will swallow the other. Then when that happens, everything you have strived for will be poof! Gone!"

"Fine. Give me some digimon to help attack Daemon and I'll get you your Tamers." he turned to his digimon who had a look of annoyance on his face. "C'mon DemiDevimon, let's go."

"Your digimon seems to be a wee bit jealous," Lilithmon told him putting a hand on Billy's chest. "You should fix that." She then disappeared in a swoosh of darkness, leaving behind the echoe of a cackle.

Billy made DemiDevimon digivolve to Devimon and then they flew off into a northeastern direction, in search of strong digimon who would help them.

Gabbie was walking through the streets of Minneapolis. She was lost and confused and wanted to go home. Digimon had been attacking her relentlessly for the past week or so. She would have been dead by now if it hadn't been for her partner, Dobermon. She pat the large dog-like digimon's head, just before she stepped in a puddle, wetting her socks through her shoes.

Dobermon lifted his head into the night sky and sniffed the air. A thick, hazy fog fell down around them. "Digimon..." Dobermon growled. "Get over there in the dark, Gabbie. Go hide! Now!" he then lowered his head and began to growl at a figure aproaching them from in front of them.

"Please don't fight, Dobermon." She pleaded. "I don't want to lose you."

"I have to protect you. Now go! Black Beam!" Dobermon roared and a dark beam of energy flew from his mouth and hit the shadowy figure infront of them. "I said go, Gabbie!"

She turned around and bolted intoa dark corner where the other digimon could not see her. She didn't want Dobermon to fight. She hated watching him risk his life for her. She held her digivice in front of her for comfort. A Snimon flew out of the Digital Fog from behind Dobermon yelling "Twin Sickles!" The green praying mantis shot to crescent shaped beams from the giant scythes on his front arms. Dobermon dodged both of them and then shot his own Black Beam attack right back, dissolving the Snimon into data. Then suddenly two more digimon appeared, a Flarerizamon and a Darkrizamon.

Darkrizamon yelled "Dread Fire!" and a wave of black fire was released from her body, while at the same time Flarerizamon attacked by yelling "Raging Inferno!" and a group of super hot flames appeared next to Dobermon. The dog digimon was now trapped inside the wall of flames and could not escape the black wall surging forward. The fire wall struck Dobermon, flinging him near where Gabbie hid. She gasped as her partner hit the concrete ground.

Dobermon tried to get back up, but Flarerizamon was already on top of him. The fiery beast dug his claws into Dobermon's legs, picking him up and throwing him against the wall of a brick builiding. He laid there, his muscles trembling from the abuse. Just as the other digimon was marching over to deliver some more pain, Darkrizamon said in her deep, raspy voice, "Look at what I found!" Dobermon managed to lift his head and see Flarerizamon walking back over to where Darkrizamon stood, hovered over a dark corner.

"No!" Dobermon said weakly. He tried to get up again, and fell. He could smell the fresh blood running out of his sides. "Leave Gabbie alone..." he tried standing again and got all the way up this time. He was just in time to see Gabbie get burned by Flarizamon's superheated claw as he poked her.

"Is this the one?" He asked the other flaming dragon.

Darkrizamon's eyes drifted towards Gabbie's digivice in her hand. "Yes, this is the one we're after. Get her."

"With pleasure," Flarerizamon replied and reached for her. Gabbie shrunk back into the corner as best as she could. There was no escape. Her face showed a look of adamant dislike for the two digimon infront of her.

"Gray Noise!' Dobermon yelled and a spiraling wave of gray colored energy shot out of his mouth and hit Flarizamon. The flaming digimon's data froze instantly.

"What have you done?" Darkrizamon cried as she turned around just in time to see Dobermon jump and attack Flarerizamon, tearing out his throat. Flarerizamon dissolved into data. She turned away from Gabbie, who was standing now. Darkrizamon slammed her fist onto the asphalt ground where Dobermon had been standing not ten seconds earlier. "Where'd you go, little pup?" she called him.

"Right here!" And he jumped off of a building and landed on top of her. His fangs tore into her flesh and sent blood and bits of meat flying everywhere. Darkrizamon screamed until she too dissolved into data.

Gabbie ran over to where her partner digimon stood, panting. "Are you ok?" She asked him worriedly. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

"Just my pride a little. I'll be fine."

Gabbie whiped off the blood dripping down his muzzle and made sure that the rest of him was fine enough to walk. "Okay," she said, "I think that you're fine for now. That was a close call. I don't like it when you take risks for me, you know. I get really worried." She bit her lip and nibbled it for a while.

The two of them stood there for a long time, waiting for the Digital Fog to disappear. When it seemed that it would not, Dobermon said, "C'mon. We should get going even if the Fog won't."

The two of them started to walk out of the fog. It got thicker and thicker the farther they went, until they saw a bit of daylight through the cloud. "It was dark when the Fog fell," Gabbie reminded him. "Have we really been in the Fog that long?"

Dobermon shook his head and said, "Look down."

Gabbie looked down for a little while. At first she didn't get it, but after a moment's thought, she realized that there isn't this much dirt and dust in Minneapolis. As this realization hit her, the fog lifted. The two of them were in a barren wasteland. The breeze around them kicked up some of the dust in the horizon, making orangey colored waves. The heat was the worst part. "Dobermon... where are we?"

"The worst place we could possibly have ever gone." Dobermon said grimly. Gabbie stared at him as his eyes scanned the area ahead of them. "This is the Digital World. This is the place I came from. This is no place for a human."

Gabbie looked ahead too and then asked, "So what do we do now?"

Dobermon looked sternly at her. "We survive."

Just then, Gabbie saw something off in the distance and pointed it out to Dobermon.


	19. Lies and Deceit

Billy had been gathering an army large enough to conquer anybody. Digimon from all over joined him out of fear. It started small but the word had spread throughout the months. Strange rumours about Billy's powers began to pop up everywhere. Each one involving the digimon dying a horrible death at Billy's bare hands simply beacuase they wouldn't join. He had assumed that Lilithmon may have had something to do with his success.

Soon his army grew to over ten thousand strong. Billy rode atop a Monochromon, NeoDevimon gliding beside him as the hige mass of digimon marched towards Daemon's fortress. Behind them rose a huge cloud of dust the he knew could be seen for miles. "No use in trying to hide a mass this big anyway, i suppose." They continued to ride through the Wastes, picking up any digimon they could to join them in their campaign for conquest. Most of the digimon had absolutely no idea what was going on, but instead only knew that if they did not join they would instead be slaughtered as an enemy.

Once again Billy felt a pair of arms wrap around him from behind, Lilithmon's claws scratching at his chest. "I see that you have created quite a troop," her voiced sounded in his ear.

"I haven't seen you in months. What do you want, Lilithmon?"

NeoDevimon gave Lilithmon an uneasy look. "I just wanted to see you, dear," she replied. "And I was curious if you knew about the girl and her digimon who just appeared over in that direction." She pointed her pale, flawless hand in a direction and pointed. Billy could just make out the pixelated outline of some mass off in the distance.

He turned his back over his head but only managed to see her disappear into darkness. "Everybody stop." He told them quite calmly. At his order, a group of Gekomon sounded the trumpets that connected to their necks. The entire army grinded to a hault as the sound of the trumpets echoed across the Wastes. Billy jumped down off of his Monochromon mount and began to walk in the direction the Lilithmon pointed out to him. NeoDevimon followed him.

He was very curious as to who this girl and her digimon may be. He knew that Brian had found a new Tamer out in the Wastes somewhere. Could he be so lucky as well? As he neared her, he was glad to find that she did not run away in fear, but rather held her ground. This one is a catch, he decided.

He stopped several feet in front of her and the digimon, a large dog digimon who looked a lot like a doberman pinscher. Billy stood there for a moment, letting the wind blow the hair around his face. NeoDevimon stood right next to him. Then he spoke and said, "My name is Billy," he bowed to her. When he stood straight again, he held out his hand for her to take.

She stood there for a moment, staring at his outstretched hand. He brought it back hesitantly and she said to him, "I'm... Gabbie." She wasn't sure if she should tell him her name, but it seemed like the polite thing to do, and he was being polite.

"Hello, Gabbie. Welcome to the Digital Wastes." Billy said to her with a warm smile. "How long have you been here?"

"I don't trust him," Dobermon growled.

"Let's play nicely for now, Dobermon." she said to him. She turned back to Billy. "I only just got here. How long have you been here?"

That was a good question, Billy conceded to himself. How long had he been here? It had to have been at least almost a year. "Ive been here for many months. Longer than I can remember for certain. Do you have a digivice, by any chance?"

She unclipped the small white device from her belt and showed to him. When she put it away, he spoke again, "Would you like to join me? I'm sure you must be hungry. You should come back to my camp and eat."

She thought for a minute. Then she looked at Dobermon for suggestions, who simply looked back at her with a look that told her 'don't trust him'. "Who are you?" She asked the boy that greeted her.

"I told you. My name is-"

"I don't give a damn about your name." She said coldly. "Who are you here? In the Digital World? Who are you to this place? Who have you made yourself? Why do you have the army over there?" She stomped her foot and balled her hands into fists. She stood there panting, her face red and hair flowing down over her eyes.

"Hmmm," Billy thought about her response. "How do you know that there is anything more than what I'm telling you?"

"Because I know that you are lying."

"I have not lied. I am Billy. But I have been keeping things from you. I am about to attack an evil digimon. I plan to stem his flow of evil at the roots and destroy him enitirely. Hopefully when he is dead, he will no longer harm anymore innocent digimon. Will you help me defeat the evil one?"

Gabbie hesitated. She did not want to fight. She could not ask Dobermon to fight anymore. She looked down at her feet. "I do not want to fight," she whispered.

Billy stepped forward and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Sometimes you have to fight for the betterment of others. You don't want your friend here to be a slave to the Evil One, do you?"

"No!" She said lifting her head. "No! Of course I don't want that!"

"Gabbie..." Dobermon said. "Don't listen to him. I do not trust him."

"You don't have to decide right away." Billy told her as he put his hand back down to his side. "Think on it for the night. I will leave you here. I will send somebody over here with some food and a few other things. Sleep on my proposal. I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight, Gabbie." He then turned around and he and NeoDevimon went back to the army. As he promised he had sent a group of rookie level Kunemon with four plates of food for her and her digimon. The Kunemon left her and Dobermon to eat.

As they ate, they spoke of what had been happening. "I think that we should decline his offer and look for a way back to the Real World." Dobermon told her.

"But I don't want that evil digimon that he told us about to enslave you. I want you to stay safe, Dobermon."

"I cannot be enslaved from the Real World," he combated.

"If you could get there the first time, and we can get there again, and all the digimon that have been attacking us can get there too, then whoever this evil digimon can too. What if he does get you? What if he does make you a slave? I dont wan't to fight, but I don't want to lose you in that way. I don't ever want to lose you. That's why I don't like you fighting."

"I know," Dobermon replied quietly. "I know..."

"But we could help in other ways, right?" Gabbie smiled now. "We don't have to fight to help!"

Dobermon nodded and then laid down. "I don't know about this. There's something off about this kid. Good night, Gabbie.

That night, While Gabbie and Dobermon slept, Billy sent DemiDevimon over to their camp. He flew over there as fast as his little wings would take him. When he reached the spot, he saw a dark haired Gabbie sleeping right next to a large Dobermon. Their fire was put out. DemiDevimon landed right next to Gabbie very carefully, so as to not wake her up. "Evil Whispers!" he said into her ear, and he began to say only good things about Billy and they war that they were trying to start. He whispered to her all of the lies that he could think of that would make her believe that this was what she wanted to do. This war was her destiny. She wanted to help them.

When he was all done with her, he turned to Dobermon and used his Evil Whispers attack on him as well. He then walked over to one of their plates and snagged some leftover food. He chuckled and then flew back to the giant army off in the distance.

Once perched outside of Billy's personal tent, he slept, guarding his master from any who would dare disturb him. "Billy will rule this world," he said to himself drowzily, "And then he will conquer the Real World. There will be a perfect world." And he dropped his eyelids and let sleep claim him.

Gabbie woke up with a start. She had been having a terrible nightmare about being chased by Billy through the dark streets of Minneapolis, but now she could not remember it. She shook Dobermon awake and said, "Dobermon! Wake up!" he stirred and lifted hi head towards her. "I feel really good today." she continued. "I think that joining Billy's quest would be a good idea. I just think that its right to do this."

"Strangely, I agree with you." Dobermon admitted. "You're right, I too think that it is the right thing to do. We should go tell Billy that we will join him for now.

They began their walk towards Billy's army and once they arrived, they were permitted entry and escorted to Billy's tent.

"You should feel lucky," Billy told them. "Nobody is allowed to see the inside of my tent." Gabbie couldn't understand why not, it seemed like a very normal tent to her. Nothing was out of the ordinary. "You seem confused. Nobody is allowed in here because I like my privacy. Simple as that. You two however have interested me very much. I have not seen many humans in this world and the only ones I have met have either lied to me or tried to kill me. They want to stop me from recreating the Digital World into something better than what it is now. You've seen it out there I assume. It's a barren wasteland out there. I want to bring it back to its previous grandeur. But there is another digimon who stands in my way, barring my path. His name is Daemon. Will you help me defeat him?"

Gabbie and Dobermon both nodded eagerly. "We will help anyway we can!" Gabbie told him.

"I first need you to pick up those to weapons over there in the chest," Billy pointed to a large wooden chest sitting to their right. "One at a time please."

Gabbie was more than a little confused but did it anyway. She opened the chest and saw two weapons, a katana and a spear. She picked up the katana first. Billy's eyes grew with excitement. It seemed to her that he was waiting for something, but after a moment, the excitement went away beacuase nothing happened. "Try the other," he told her.

She set the katana back down into the chest and picked up the spear. She turned to Billy and saw the excitement agian. But after another moment it vanished and he bacame somewhat depressed. "It would seem as though you are not the one."

"Which one?" Gabbie asked as the put the spear back into the chest and closed it. When she turned back around, Dobermon and Billy were sitting on the floor. She went over and sat with them.

"There are eight of those weapons, called the DigiBlades, filled with unsurpassable power," Billy told her. "There are eight Tamers, chosen by some unknown force to wield one DigiBlade each. So far, a total of six have been found. In my possession I hold three, one of them are rightfully mine as I am one of the eight. It is the Blade that you see sheathed to my back. I was aware that the chances of you being one of the eight were slim at best. But I had to try anyway."

This was all fine to her. No weapon means she didn't have to fight. 'But you want to fight...' a dark voice sounded in her head, 'you want to help Billy by fighting his ultimate enemies.'

'But if we fight, then I might lose Dobermon!' She thought back to herself.

'You want to fight...' the voice repeated.

'Very well,' Gabbie thought, 'if I want to fight so so bad, then so be it.'

"Who else has a DigiBlade, besides you?"

"The ones that I know of belong to those that I had said before that want me dead. Their names are Meram-" Billy stopped and remember what Lilithmon had told him. 'They have names, so use them!' He started again, " I mean Brian, Hope, and Duane. I am searching for the others so that they do not fall victim to the mind poison that Brian has fed the other two. Those three are a disease that need to be eliminated. They try to thwart my plans to destroy Daemon and revive the Digital World. I need the help of the others of the eight. Only we eight are powerful enough to do any real good in the Digital World."

Gabbie thought that she understood. "So there are eight Tamers who are more powerful than other Tamers?" she said. "And each of these eight wield one of the powerful DigiBlades. And now there is a war between you and Daemon and they work for Daemon, trying to stop you at every turn?"

Billy hadn't even thought of telling her that they worked for Daemon. He chuckled and thought, 'oh how easy her mind is to mold. Everything is fitting together perfectly.' He spoke to her, "Yes. They work for Daemon. Brian, Hope, and Duane all work for Daemon. They are as evil and cold hearted as him. The leader, Brian, is the one who gave me the scar on my face," he lied. "He had me nearly beat. My digimon was down and he was on top of me. I had no defense. He brought his great battle axe down on me. If it wasn't for DemiDevimon there, the axe would have done a lot more than clip the side of my face. He had the full intent of killing me that day. He trully is evil. If you ever meet him, I'd suggest you run, because as one of the eight, he is far more powerful than you."

"These people sound terrible," Gabbie exclaimed. "Right Dobermon?" He nodded to her. "We must help Billy. If we can defeat Daemon, then we can revive the Digital World."

"Excellent!" Billy said. "I'm glad you see things he way I do now! So, we are very close to Daemon's fortress now. I expect that if we begin moving today, we will be there by midday tomorrow!" Billy stood up and motioned for the others to rise too. When they did, Billy hugged Gabbie and said, "Thank you, Gabbie. You are the first true friend that I have found out here in the Wastes since I met DemiDevimon. Please stay with me for awhile."

A little taken aback, but please nonetheless, Gabbie hugged him back and said, "Okay. I'll stick around for a bit." She pulled away from him. "Now let's go get moving to Daemon's fortress!"

"Good idea!" Billy agreed. "DemiDeivimon!"

"Aye, Boss?" The little digimon said from outside the tent. "Wassup?"

"Have the Geckomon sound their horns. We are moving out!"

"Okey dokey, Boss." They stepped outside in time to see DemiDevimon fly over to a group of green frog-like digimon with horns protuding from their necks. "Oi! Yous there, Geckomons! Sound yer trumps, why dontcha? Yeah, that's righ', git tuh steppin' on that!"

The digimon sounded the horn and immediately tents all over the camp fell down and were put away. Within fifteen minutes the entire army was moving again. Gabbie was surprised at how efficiently such a large army moved. Billy had a well greased machine at his finger tips.


	20. Into the Digital Fog

The next morning, Brian got to sleep in. When he finally awoke, it was almost noon. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before shaking Agumon awake too.

"Good morning, Brian," Agumon said through a yawn. "You know, this bed is an amazing thing. I wonder why we don't have more of these in the Digital World?"

"Beats me!' Brian laughed. "I'll go get us some breakfast. You stay here and wake up the others, okay?" Agumon nodded and Brian left the room and entered the kitchen. When he got there, he grabbed some cereal off of the top of the fridge and began pouring into six bowls. Just as he was finishing up, his younger brother walked in. "Good morning Pete," he greeted him without looking up. Brian put he bowls onto a large tray and then stated pouring milk.

Peter didn't say a word to him.

"What's the matter?" Brian grinned. "Too good to say 'hello'?"

Peter glared at him. "Don't be stupid. Shut up." He then shuffled to the fridge to look for sandwich materials.

"Ok then, pal-o," Brian replied, too happy to be brought down.

He then began walking out of the kitchen when Peter spoke up and said, "Why do you need so many bowls?" it was done in a very sour tone which clearly stated dislike.

"Oh, umm, they're for me and my friends," Brian told him. "I had a few spend the night."

"You had five friends here?" Again there was the hint of strong dislike in his voice.

"Oh, umm..." Brian tried to think as fast as he could. "That's... not any of your business!" he finished quickly and left. Brian heard Peter mumble something that sounded a lot like 'retard'.

Brian opened the door to his room and Duane and Elecmon sitting on the floor and Agumon sitting on the bed. Hope was out on the balcony with Gatomon. She was leaning against the railing looking out into the city while her digimon sat on the ground by her feet. He could tell that it was windy out there because of the way her hair blew around her face. Brian set the tray of food on the computer desk and then said, "Ok guys, dig in! Breakfast is served!"

Duane and Elecmon were up there immediately chowing down. Brian then was almost knocked over by Agumon trying to get past them. Brian made his way to the sliding glass door and opened it. He joined Hope and Gatomon at the railing.

"Good morning," Hope said without looking.

"Howdy," Brian replied. "Didja sleep good?"

"Yeah, I did." Hope said quietly.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her.

She looked up at him. "Huh? Oh, no. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"None of your business," Gatomon told him. She looked up and smiled at Brian. The she laughed and began licking her paw.

"Oh, be quiet Gatomon," Hope said. "No, I was just thinking about the Digital World. A lot has happened there. Now I'm on the other end of the country. Here I am, in sunny California! I've been to so many places and done so much. And..." She then stopped talking.

"And what?" Brian pushed curiously.

"Well, I just wanted to thank you."

"What for?" He asked her. "I don't remember doing anything that deserves thanking."

"You've done a lot." She turned away from the railing and faced the apartment. "We'd better go eat before they get to our food." The two girls then walked back through the sliding glass door. Brian soon followed.

Back inside, he found that he was lucky enough to get a bowl of cereal that nobody had touched. Despite his fears, everybody had gotten something to eat.

"I think we should turn on the news," Duane suggested. "I'm curious if any more digimon have tried getting through."

"It's it isn't our job to hunt them down," Hope told him.

"But who else will?" Brian asked her. "We have the means. We are the only ones who know what to do. If we don't do it, nobody will."

"Fine," she said angrily. "Turn it on. But I still think that it's a waste of time."

Before Duane had reached the table with the T.V. on it, Brian was suddenly hit with the realization that the DigiBlades were gone. "Where are our DigiBlade?" Brian cried out.

The other two turned around, confused at first. And then they too knew what he was talking about. The DigiBlades had been missing since they arrived in the Real World. "Holy-" Hope began. "Where are they? Mine was right here at my side! Why didn't we realize that they were missing?"

"Maybe because we aren't used to carrying them around to begin with," Duane suggested. "Or maybe that now we are in the RW, our minds think differently. We don't expect ourselves to be carrying weapons around town, so why would we think that we would have them?"

"That makes sense," Brian agreed. He then reached towards his belt. His digivice was gone too. "Uh-oh. The digivice is gone too. How do we fight the digimon that will come through if we can't digivolve to champion or ultimate?"

"Well, we have to find some way!" Duane exclaimed.

"What are you talking about we?" Hope yelled to him. "I don't want to be a part of this and you don't fight at all!"

"So?" Duane retorted. "At least I'm trying to help out!"

"Guys!" Brian yelled. "We don't need to be fighting. As far as I can tell, we have been thrusted back into the same game we were playing back in the DW. The difference is the playing field and the rules. We still have home field advantage tough. Let's act like we can do this. We just need to figure out how we are going to react to these new rules."

"You're right, Brian," Duane admitted. "I'm sorry, Hope."

"Whatever," she said. "This isn't my war. I won't be a part of what's to come."

"War?" Brian asked. "What are you talking about? This is homeland security. It's just that we are protecting our dimension from another one."

"No I mean the war with you and Bi-" Hope stopped herself, remembering that they didn't know what she did. "Never mind. I'll help out."

Right then, the sky outside became very dark. The three Tamers and their partners looked out the sliding glass door. Two blocks over, the Digital Fog had engulfed a building. They heard screaming and car alarms going off. And then they heard the heavy stomping of something very large. "We need to go." Brian told them. He then bolted out of the room with Agumon on his tail. The others followed him hurriedly.

"What are those?" Deonna yelled as they came out. "Monsters!"

Brian kept running, "They're nice monsters, Deonna! I promise! I'll tell you all about it when we get back. I can't stick around, gotta go!" The Tamers and digimon ran out the front door and down the stairs into the parking lot.

Deonna stood at the front door and yelled, "Where are you going?" but Brian didn't answer. This was much more important than explanations.

They ran all the way to the Digital Fog and stood there in front of it panting. Inside of the Fog they could hear the screams of people and the roars of digimon. Suddenly, a car flew out of the Fog and would have hit the three Tamers if they hadn't ducked.

"And you want to go in there?" Duane asked Brian.

"Well, we kinda have to," Brian replied. He then lead the others in. The Fog seemed to be thicker than regular air. It felt almost as if they were walking through water. After a while, they finally broke through the barrier and the air returned to it's normal density.

"That was kinda weird feeling, huh?" Hope said. Then their DigiBlades appeared in front of them.

Brian immediately reached out for his and grasped the handle of his battle axe. "They're back!" He exclaimed. "Maybe they can only exist in the Fog?"

"It's possible," Duane agreed, grabbing his halberd.

Hope grabbed hers too and then they and the digimon started walking forward.

"Hey, Agumon," Brian said, stopping. "Those digimon are probably right up ahead. You should probably digivolve now."

"Right!" the dinosaur agreed. "Agumon, digivolve to-!" the digivice in the shaft of the axe glowed orange and the light of digivolution swallowed him up. Towering over the Tamers stood Greymon in all his greatness. Just then, a black flaming bird flew out of the surrounding Fog and grabbed Brian by the shoulders. He dropped his axe out of surprise. "Brian!" the huge Greymon called. "Nova Blast!" he yelled, expelling a huge ball of fire out at the Saberdramon.

Saberdramon dodged it and kept on flying. Greymon followed as best as he could on foot.

Then, two more digimon approached the Tamers who were left behind. "Thunder of King!" a quadruped lion-like digimon yelled, shooting lightning from its mane at Duane, who scooped up Elecmon and escaped the blast. Duane ran, looking for safety for him and his digimon. the faster Liamon who attacked him gave chase.

When all that was left was Hope and Gatomon, a Frigimon yelled, "Sub Zero Ice Punch!" Gatomon dodged the freezing blow by jumping over the other digimon, calling "Lightning Paw!" and punching the giant snowman in the back of the head. The Frigimon fell forward and Gatomon was able to attack a few more times before he got up.

Meanwhile, Saberdramon had broken free of the Digital Fog and began flying through the streets of San Diego with Greymon trailing behind. As Greymon ran after his Tamer, the people on the sidewalks ran away screaming. Some people stopped their cars and got out to run away. Greymon smashed anything that got in his way, whether it be cars or fire hydrants, it didn't matter. To a monster as big as him, the metal gave way underneath his weight. The entire time he shot Nova Blast after Nova Blast at the Saberdramon. Brian struggled to get free of the digimon's talons but had no luck. He wished that he hadn't dropped his DigiBlade.

Saberdramon was struck in the back by one of Greymon's Nova Blasts and screeched into the air. One of the feet holding Brian let him go, and he held on for dear life to the one that still held him. Saberdramon turned around to face his attacker and yelled, "Black Saber!" he flapped his black wings and balls of black fire shot out towards the other digimon. Greymon dodge rolled to the left, flattening an empty car. When he got back up he jumped on top of a large semi-truck that was parked in front of him. From there, he leapt into the air and grabbed Saberdramon by the neck, smashing his body into a nearby building. Saberdramon dropped Brian and he landed on top of a smaller building below.

Liamon had chased Duane all the way to an alleyway. He was now cornered with the lion digimon inching forward, step by step. Liamon snarled and roard, throwing saliva at him. Elecmon struggled to get out of Duane's arms. "Let me go, Duane!" He yelled. "Let me fight!"

"No! We just need to find a way to get out of this alley, there's got to be some way..."

"Thunder of King!" Liamon yelled, once again shooting lightning bolts from his mane. Elecmon kicked Duane in the stomach, making him double over in pain and just barely dodging the attack. He then bit Duane's hand causing the human to release him.

"Elecmon, digivolve to-!" He leapt away from Duane and then his champion form, Leomon, landed right in front of Liamon, drawing his sword from it's scabbard. Leomon opened his eyes and stared down his opponent. "One of is fated to lose this battle. I bet that it's you. Fist of the Beast King!" he yelled and a fiery lion's head emerged from his outstretched fist, sending Liamon flying back out of the alley. Leomon then charged at full speed towards the downed opponent with his sword extended in front of him. He slashed at Liamon, but the other digimon managed to get up and dodge it. Leomon's sword met only the hard asphalt of the street. Liamon countered and bit Leomon's arm, drawing blood.

Duane pulled the halberd off of his back and ran out of the alley too. Leomon lifted his arm with the Liamon still attached and used his free hand to grab the digimon around it's waist. he squeezed it as hard as he could, causeing it to release his arm. Leomon then spun around and threw Liamon into the ground behind him. He shot another Fist of the beast King attack at it and then followed up with a sword swipe, knocked the beast across the street and crashing into a building, causing a chunk of the wall to fall out on top of the Liamon.

Down a block away, Hope and Gatomon were fighting the Frigimon. "Snowball Fight!" the giant snow creature yelled, throwing giant cunks of snow at Hope. She brought up her short sword and slashed at each one of them, easily deflecting the attacks. Gatomon, who was behind him, ran at the Frigimon. He turned around to stop her but she slid underneath him between his legs and avoiding his hands. She then leapt into a back flip and landed on his back. She grabbed The digimon's head and snapped it to the right. Gatomon jumped off his back and landed in front of him. She turned around and yelled, "Lightning Paw!" and she punched him in the face.

Hope came at him from the side. He used his Sub Zero Ice Punch attack in her direction. Gatomon jumped and grabbed his fist. She then flipped him down over her shoulder in midair and he hit the ground hard. Hope stuck her sword into his gut and he dissolved into data.

Brian hit the building with much force. Pain surged through his back as he clawed at it as if the tear the pain out. When it finally subsided, he was able to stand up and see the fight between Saberdramon and Greymon down below him on the streets.

"Nova Blast!" Greymon yelled as fire erupted from his mouth and flew at the black phoenix. Saberdramon dodged it and the fire ball hit a building, knocking chunks of cement into the streets. Long before now, the people had abandoned this area. Saberdramon charged at Greymon, who managed to grab the bird by its wings and throw it to the ground. Greymon then stood on top of it and bit at Sabedramon's neck. Saberdramon screeched in pain

"Nitro Arrow!" the Saberdramon screamed, shooting agreen arrow from its chest. The arrow pierced Greymon and he toppled over backward. The Saberdramon then took the opportunity to stand itself on top of Greymon. The bird then raised Greymon into the air and repeatedly slammed him into a building. Greymon reached up an grabbed Saberdramon's legs and pried them off of his shoulders. He then pulled the digimon down as hard as he could to bring it back down to Earth. Greymon landed on top of the building with Brian and the Saberdramon crashed and rolled just a few feet away on the roof.

"Black Saber!" The Saberdramon yelled, getting back up into the skies. Greymon charged toward the fireballs that he shot at them. With a swipe of his arm, Greymon put out the fire balls and roared. Saberdramon then charged at Brian. Greymon tried to stop it by throwing a Nova Blast attack, but the fire ball missed and continued to charge.

Brian brought up his hands in defense, and out of nowhere his DigiBlade appeared in his hands. Without even thinking, Brian swung the battle axe upward, striking Saberdramon in the jaw, splitting it and sending blood everywhere. But the bird was not going to give up. He charged at Greymon next and actually clawed at his chest, leaving large gashes there. Greymon stumbled backwards and fell off the building, landing in the street. He left a giant crater beneath him. Greymon did not get up.

"Greymon!" Brian yelled lookin over the edge. "Greymon! Open your eyes! Get up!"

Saberdramon rose high up into the air and then rushed downward with its talons outstretched in front on it. He shot down at Greymon as fast as he could. Brian leapt off of the building and met in midair with the bird. He grabbed the fiery feathers of its neck and then bashed the butt of his weapon into the digimon's head. The digivice in the shaft of the Blade glowed orange and Greymon began to glow as well.

The large dinosaur opened his eyes and stood up. "Greymon, digivolve to-!" the digimon rose up into the air, surrounded by light. the data from the digivice flowed into his body and metal surrounded key parts of his body. He grew double in size and the wings sprouted out of his back. "MetalGreymon!" the beast yelled, a blast of fire emanated from his body and incinerated the ground around him. He looked at the charging bird, who altered its course out of fear and surprise. "Mega Claw!" the beastly dinosaur yelled, launching his metallic hand off of his arm. The giant claw struck Saberdramon in the chest, and he dissolved into data just as Brian jumped off. MetalGreymon's claw reattached itself to the owner's arm. MetalGreymon flew over to Brian and caught him on his back.

As the gigantic dinosaur flew through the air, Brian climbed up to MetalGreymon's head and stood on his snout with one hand on his front horn for balance. "That was amazing, MetalGreymon!" Brian yelled over the rush of the wind that was passing them by as they flew through the air. "Let's get back to the others. We should help them if they're in trouble."

MetalGreymon flew as fast as he could back towards the Digital Fog and entered it with little resistance. Inside, they watched Hope and Gatomon running towards Leomon's battle with Liamon. Leomon had just stuck his sword through the other digimon, killing it instantly. Leomon sheathed his sword just as Hope and Gatomon arrived and MetalGreymon landed with a crash. There were two small craters where his feet had made contact.

"Did ya haffta make such an entrance?" Gatomon asked them when the hit the gound.

"If you can't come in style," Brian said, "then you might as well not come at all!" He smiled and climbed down to the ground to join his friends. MetalGreymon then dedigivolved back to Agumon.

"I have come to claim you, Light!" a voice from above called. The three Tamers and their digimon looked up to see who had called to them. It was Ogremon and two other digimon. The other two digimon that flanked him looked like Ogremon, except that the one to his right was brown and wearing tiger striped garments, and was wielding a bone club. The one on the left was black with chunks of ice protruding from his shoulders. He also held in his hand an ice club. "I told you that you hadn't seen the last of me!" Ogremon continued. "I told you that I'd be back! And this time I brought my brothers! Hyogamon," he gestured to the goblin on his left, "and Fugamon!" he gestured to the digimon on his right.

"You!" Leomon said. "I have a score to settle with you!" He yelled at Ogremon. "You will come down now and we will fight. Right here, right now."

"Leomon," Duane exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"Stay out of this, Duane," Leomon told him. "I have to fight this battle. I have watched him do many evil deeds and I will avenge the digimon who have fallen at his hand."

Ogremon jumped down to the street with them. Fugamon and Hyogamon followed. "Ah, Leomon!" Ogremon exclaimed. "I was not aware that you had become a pet!" he roared with laughter. "Where's your collar, eh? I hear that this city has a leash law!" He began to bellow out with laughter again. He clutched at his chest and fell over, barely being able to breath. The other two laughed as well.

"Yes," Leomon said, "You're a riot. I see that you've lost your prized SkullGreymon femur. I believe that you cherished that stolen club very much." Leomon gave a small chuckle that absolutely infuriated Ogremon, who stopped laughing immediately and stood back up.

"Shut up!" He yelled. "That was her fault! The Light an Meramera stole it from me!" he growled. "Fugamon! Hyogamon! Keep he other two from interfering!" He barked his orders. "This fight is now between me and Leomon."


	21. Daemon

Billy had requested that a large Mamothmon be brought for Gabbie to ride on. He wanted to make sure that she was as comfortable as possible. They had been traveling together for a week, the army growing larger and larger the whole time. Gabbie attempted to learn more about her new friend by asking him different questions. Most of the answers he gave were lies to make sure that she liked him enough to stay. When he though back, this is how he should have begun with Hope.

"...and that's how I defeated the evil Raremon and restored peace and fresh air to the inhabitants of Tsunamon village," Billy finished his amazing and completely fabricated story to Gabbie. Truth was, the village had not been saved at all. Billy had set the Raremon on the village and it was Brian who had destroyed it. After that, Billy defeated Brian and stole thedataof the area.

"Wow!" Gabbie exclaimed. "That sounds amazing! You are a courageous person. I'm really happy I met a guy as nice and thoughtful as you."

'It probably also helps that DemiDevimon is using his Evil Whispers attack on you every night,' Billy thought. "Yeah, well, that's just the life of a hero. I do only for others. This is why I must destroy Daemon. He is a threat to all that is good in this world."

Gabbie turned her head out towards the horizon. She was beginning to get used to the pixelated edges of the scenery far off. She reached over and pat Dobermon on the head. He loved to be scratched on the head. "When will we arrive at Daemon's fortress, anyway?" she asked Billy.

"In about a day or so, I think." Billy replied. He pointed to a dark mass off in the distance. "Do you see that way out there? I'm fairly certain that's where he resides. Soon we will be able to defeat him."

"Are we going to attack today?" Dobermon questioned.

"No, I think that if we have managed to not be seen yet, we will attack tomorrow in the early morning." Billy told her. "That way we can get the jump on him."

Just then, a huge roar of hatred sounded from above them. Gabbie looked up at the zeppelins that had first appeared while they were sleeping a few nights ago. Every now and then she would hear screaming and howling coming from the largest one. The other seven had some sound coming from them, but it was nothing compared to whatever was kept away in the largest one. Whatever was in there was big and nasty. The thought of whatever creature was inside scared Gabbie. Dobermon was kept on edge by the roars and howls coming from it too.

"What's in there?" Gabbie asked Billy once again. She brought her head back down to see how he would react.

"I can't tell you. I'm under strict orders to let nobody know unless they need to. That means only me and my generals. I'm sorry, Gabbie. I would if I could," He looked truly apologetic.

"Who gives you orders?" Dobermon asked him.

"I'm sorry," Billy repeated. "I can't tell you that either. I can't risk certain things become known to Daemon. You understand, don't you?"

Gabbie nodded. She didn't like being kept in the dark, but if it kept the edge over Daemon, then she was fine with it. Billy raised his hand and the group of Gekomon sounded their trumpets again. Within fifteen minutes, the enitire camp had been assembled and the Monochromon, Mammothmon, and Triceramon were corralled. Another five minutes and the zepellins were tied down.

As the darkness fell, Gabbie and Dobermon sat themselves around the fire that Billy and DemiDevimon were sitting at. Billy was eating off of a plate as his digimon perched himself on his shoulder.

A Bakemon immediately brought her a plate of food, but she turned it down. Just then, they heard a rumbling in the ground below them. The earth began to shake and Billy and Gabbie stood up. "What's going on, Billy?" Gabbie asked.

"I dunno," he replied. "But it isn't going to be good."

Just then, a huge mole-like digimon with a drill for a nose burrowed out of the ground in front of them yelling, "Drill Claw!" and making a swiping motion at Billy. The boy ducked and rolled out of the way while simultaneously pulling out his DigiBlade. The black digivice on the pommel glowed and he called out to his digimon, "Now DemiDevimon! Digivolve!"

As Demidevimon flew up into the sky, a dark energy swallowed him up. "Aye, boss! Will do! DemiDevimon, digivolve to-!" and when the energy dispersed, a tall, dark digimon floated in his place. Everywhere there was distruction as more and Drimogemon burrowed out of the ground, flipping over tents and scattering the ashes form fires, causing anything that would burn to catch ablaze. Soon the entire camp was engulfed in the flames. There was chaos everywhere as the digimon of Billy's army attempted to fight off the attackers. Devimon looked down at the Drimogemon that had appeared in front of Gabbie and Billy. He then turned downward into a nose dive with his lands outstretched. He grabbed the Drimogemon, digging his claws into its skin. Devimon then pulled the mole out of the ground and used it as a ram to drill into another Drimogemon that had surfaced a few feet away, destroying the second one instantly.

"Gabbie," Dobermon growled, "get behind me! I'll protect you!"

"Please don't fight, Dobermon," she pleaded. "Let's just run. Please?"

"But what about our agreement with Billy?" Dobermon asked her as he turned towards her.

'He's right you know...' the voice in her head sounded again. 'You made a commitment...'

'Get out of my head!' she screamed in her own mind.

'You're mine now, Gabbie...' the voice barked back. Suddenly, Gabbie fell over clutching at her head.

"Gabbie!" Dobermon cried. "Gabbie! Are you alright?"

She sat back up, holding one hand to her head. Her eyes flashed red, although Dobermon did not see it. "Yes," she told him in a voice that sounded like her own, but at the same was not. "I am fine," she pulled out her digivice and stood up completely. "Let's fight now."

Dobermon grunted his agreement and launched into the fray. "Black Beam!" he yelled as a Drimogemon surfaced in front of his jump. The mole digimon dissolved into data just as Dobermon landed. He then ran off further into the camp, ambushing the Drimogemon as they surfaced or while they were in battle with digimon from Billy's army.

Devimon flew through the air, firing bolts of darkness from his palms to any Drimogemon he could find. Billy was running alongside him, his great broadsword drawn as he slashed at the sides of digimon that were near him. Another Drimogemon burrowed out of the ground right underneath him, flinging Billy into the air. He did a back flip and landed on one knee in front of the newly surfaced digimon. He raised his head and noticed that Devimon hadn't noticed any of this and had continued flying toward his next target. "Very well, Drimogemon!" Billy said as he stood up. "Looks like it's just me and you." Billy brought up his sword just as Drimogemon threw his drill covered hand at him, the metal blade met with the drills, causing sparks to fly, and a horrible noise to filter from the contact. Billy grunted from the pressure as he pushed the claws off. Just then, the Drimogemon thrust his head forward. Billy dodged the giant nose drill just in time and took the opportunity to push his DigiBlade into the digimon's eye. Drimogemon dissolved away.

Gabbie was trying to keep up with her partner as best as she could, but Dobermon was quite a bit faster than she was. A runaway Triceramon almost ran her over, instead stopping just inches away. It was then that she got the idea to climb aboard and take the reigns. She had lost sight of Dobermon by this time, but it was okay. She could take care of herself with the Triceramon now.

She pulled the reigns ot the left and the giant dinosaur and Triceramon turned in that direction. He stood up onto his hind legs and roared. When his front legs made contact with the ground again, Triceramon bolted, using his huge horns to pummel enemy digimon into data. As she and her charge raced though the campsite, she witnessed the death of many digimon, both ally and enemy. She came to a clearing and saw Billy there, fighting off many Drimogemon all by himself. She and her Triceramon charged in there, destroying all but the one Billy was fighting with at the time. Her mount skidded to a stop beside him just as billy finished off the digimon.

"Need a ride?" Gabbie asked, holding out her hand.

Billy smiled at her and sheathed his sword. "Yeah, that sounds nice!" He grabbed her hand and she helped him up onto the beast. With one hand he held onto her, and with the other he pulled out his sword. "Let's go find our digimon," he suggested. "Then we will take this dight back to Daemon."

Gabbie agreed and nudged her mount to move. The Triceramon bounded off in the direction she had indicated, again smashing its mighty horns into their enemies. Whatever the Triceramon missed, Billy killed with a slash of his Blade.

Soon, the fighting had stopped. Every last Drimogemon that had entered the camp did not leave unless it was by dissolving into data. "Devimon!" Billy called out. "Devimon! Get over here!" The dark digimon fell down from the sky and landed near them with his arm crossed. "Ah good." Billy said to him. "I see that you weren't destroyed by any Drimogemon. Excellent. Now where is Dobermon? Gabbie is going to need him very soon."

The Devimon looked to his right and pointed. In that direction, Gabbie saw a large dog digimon running towards them as fast as he could. "Dobermon!" she exclaimed happily. She leapt off of the Triceramon and ran over to her digimon and hugged him.

"I'm glad you're safe," Dobermon told her.

"Yes," Billy said, "this is all very touching, but we need to wrap his up. I have a plan and it needs to be acted out immediately. Follow me," he started to walk off with Devimon closely on his tail. Gabbie and Dobermon followed him as well.

"Where are we going?" Gabbie asked him as she ran up to his side.

He looked at her but kept walking. "We need a couple of mounts to get to his fortress. We'll also need to rally the army and lead them in."

Gabbie stopped, Dobermon stood by her. Billy and his silent champion continued moving. She brought her hand up to her mouth and bit her knuckles. She put it down and called, "But we just had a mount!" She and her digimon ran back over to catch up with him.

He stopped at a huge cloth covered box shape. As Gabbie neared him, she could hear clicking coming from behind the cloth. When she finally caught up with him, he pulled the cloth off and revealed a large cage underneath. Inside the cage were two huge green birds that reminded Gabbie of her aunt's parrot. "Sure we had a mount," Billy told her, "but not one like this!"

Devimon opened the cage door and roared at the birds, who seemed to be afraid of him and they kept their distance. Billy grabbed a couple of reigns from a rack nearby. He handed one to Devimon and the two of them put the hard piece of wood in the bird's mouth. The digimon in the cage screamed at them, opening their beaks as wide as they could. After a moment Billy got them to close their beaks on it as Devimon flew up to the top of the cage.

"Hop on, Gabbie," Billy told her. "The other Parrotmon is big enough for both you and Dobermon. Don't be afraid." Just as she climbed on and Dobermon seated himself behind her, Devimon pulled something and the walls of the cage fell. Devimon grabbed the top just before it hit them and he set it down next to them.

"Ever riden a horse before?" Billy asked her.

"Yeah," she said, "My family owns a few."

"Oh, that's too bad. Forget everything you know about that. This is way different." He then kicked the sides of his beast and his Parrotmon opened its wings and kicked off into the air. Gabbie did the same and flew her mount up to Billy's altitude. He was right, Gabbie thought, controlling this digimon was nothing like controlling a horse.'

Billy banked left and soared up higher to where the zeppelins were. He barked a few orders and the zeppelins rose higher and followed him as he directed the flying machine to the fortress. Then a horde of the ghostly Bakemon and a Phantomon flew up and glided alongside Billy. "Your team will attack first," Billy told them. "I want you to take out the tower and wall guards, impersonate them, then dispatch any other digimon you see." The spectral digimon agreed and flew off in the direction of their enemy. He and Gabbie flew their mounts down to a heard of Triceramon, Monochromon, and Mammothmon who were all mounted by various digimon such as Gekomon and Starmon. "I want your group to attack the walls in twenty minutes. Break them down and reduce them to rubble. I want the entire outer area leveled."

A tall digimon who resembled ram walked closer to where Billy floated in the air. "It will be done, my leige," the creature said. "I will personally lead them into the fortress and capture key locations. Daemon will be yours, sir."

"Then get to it, Mephistomon," Billy retorted coldly. "Simply get it done." He then pulled on the reigns and joined Gabbie back in the sky. Gabbie and Dobermon rode their mount closely behind Billy with his Devimon flying close by. Soon they arrived on Daemon's door step.

The herd of mounted Monochromon, Triceramon, and Mammothmon had already broken through the walls and were spilling into the fortress as they arrived. Billy and Gabbie flew over the wall and landed roughly in the courtyard. Inside was complete chaos. Digimon were riding into the walls and being blasted off by digimon who were defending the base. The plasma blast from a Gorrilamon had just missed Gabbie by inches and hit her Parrotmon after she had dismounted. Behind him stood Devimon who thrusted his hand into its chest and tearing out its vitals. Gorillamon was destroyed as Devimon turned to another opponent.

Meanwhile, Billy was fighting his way to the front doors. He finally reached it by dispatching a Kokatorimon and kicking the bird off of his Blade. It dissolved into data before it even hit the ground and Billy opened the door and calmly walked in, Devimon close behind. Gabbie and Dobermon, who had been keeping their heads down as best as they could, followed him in, eager to see Daemon's final breath.

Inside there were many busts and paintings of digimon, and a lond red rug that seemed to go on for as long as the corridor did. The hallway was completely empty. Most of the digimon guards were probably out on the courtyard fighting Billy's army. There were many doors and hallways leading away from the hallway on both side. Billy and Devimon largely ignored these and just kept walking in a straight line down the corridor. Gabbie and Dobermon silently followed behind them.

Suddenly, just as they had reached the end of the hall way with a huge double door directly in front of them, a door to their left opened and a digimon walked out. The tall ram stood facing them, a narrow look in his eyes.

"Ah, Mephistomon," Billy greeted his general. "I'm glad you're here. We could use your help in this matter."

The other digimon laughed a harmonious roar. Devimon cocked his head and put on a look of confusion. "What's so funny?" Billy demanded angrily.

"You are, foolish child!" he continued to roar with laughter.

"Stop laughing," Billy commanded. "I said, SHUT UP!"

"You have been so foolish!" Mephistomon continued. "You have played right into my hand, and in effect, Daemon's hand."

"What!" Billy exclaimed.

Gabbie screamed and he immediately turned around. The girl fell to her knees as she looked down. There was a long piece of metal sticking out of her gut. The blod ran down and dripped onto the floor. She heard a voice in her ear speak in a dry tone, "And the Love of the Eight falls." She felt a foot press against her back as Daemon pushed her off of his blade. She hit the ground with a dull thud.

"Gabbie!" Both Dobermon and Billy shouted. Dobermon leapt at Daemon, who simply swatted the champion level away with a swipe of his hand. Dobermon hit the wall and smashed a bust. Debris flew everywhere. Billy took a step toward his once-master, but Devimon placed a hand on his shoulder. Billy nodded and pulled drew the DigiBlade from his scabbard. The screen glowed as he turned around and swiped at the traitorous Mephistomon behind him.

Mephistomon was caught off guard, and while he managed to jump away, Billy did leave a gash in the ram's chest. At the same time, Devimon flew at Daemon with his claw outstretched. As he glided through the air, his skin shedded and Billy's black digivice glowed. underneath all the data was Neodevimon. As the ultimate level digimon flew at Daemon, who ducked, grabbing NeoDevimon's arm and simultaneously punching him in the stomach. NeoDevimon was launched to the ceiling, leaving behind cracks as it crumbled away slightly. Daemon dropped his sword and leapt into the air, landing his feet on NeoDevimon's chest before grasping both of his wrists and flipping him back to the ground. Daemon launched himself back down to the ground and stomped on the other digimon's head.

Billy slashed his sword once again at Mephistomon, who dodged it by bending over backwards. He then countered with a backflip in which his hoof jarred Billy right in the chest. The dark boy fell over backwards, the wind knocked out of him. Mephistomon calmly strided over to Billy and picked him up by the hair. He brought the boy close to his face and snorted warm breath into the face of Billy, who was still gasping for air. Mephistomon threw Billy to Daemon, who was now standing with one foot on top of NeoDevimon. the cloaked digimon caught the boy by the neck and squeezed tightly. Billy could now taste blood in the back of his throat.

Dobermon was hurt but managed to crawl over to where Gabbie lay, just barely breathing. He wanted to comfort her as best as he could.

"Listen, whelp," Daemon said as he dropped Billy to the ground. He could finally breathe now and did so greedily. "I will offer you a deal. I'm curious to see how well you fit the title given to you by legend. One of you two and your digimon will be set free. The other will die. You get to choose, Billy. Will you be the Friend?" He waved his hand and a swirling portal opened in front of them all. Mephistomon smirked in amusement. "Whoever you choose will be sent back to the Real World where they belong."

Billy thought for a moment. Gabbie was already dead. The logical choice would be to set himself free. However, something inside of him didn't feel good about doing that to her. Had he come to enjoy her presence through the veil of lies he had so carefully created? Foolish human emotions such as caring and friendship were beneath him, he decided. "I choose..." He stood up and looked at Gabbie, unable to say what he wanted to say. Something held him back from saying that he chose himself.

Outside, the zeppelins had arrived. The largest one had positioned itself right above the courtyard, the littler ones surrounded it. The seven smaller ones opened up their bottoms and digimon of varying shapes, sizes, and levels poured out, landing on the dirt of the gardens and the stone of the walkways, creating several craters throughout the grounds. And finally the large zeppelin opened, and from inside emerged two great monsters of truly horrific power. Both landing right in front of the main door, the two beasts each called out their monstrous attacks. "Triple Force!" the three heads of Deltamon yelled, "Poison Wing!" Kimeramon called at the same time. The attacks leveled the main hall. The beams of energy from Deltamon annihalted the digimon in front of him and blew open the doors. As the attack traveled throught the hallway, it struck Daemon and the same time that Kimeramon's Poison Wing struck. The resulting force of the combined attacks knocked Deamon and Mephistomon off of their feet.

Billy ran over to where Gabbie lay and picked her up. He carried her to the portal and yelled to her over the wind and the battle outside, "Gabbie! I haven't told you the truth! Brian did not give me the scar! He does not work for Daemon! He can help you! Go find him! I can't keep you safe anymore!" and he threw her into the portal. Dobermon had also managed to get up. He bounded into the portal after her. When they were both gone, Billy stood there in the hallway, looking at NeoDevimon, who was no longer NeoDevimon. He had transformed into a new digimon.

"I am MagnaAngemon," the new digimon told him. The digimon wore a large sash around his chest and sported a large norse helmet and eight wings, which gracefully wrapped around him.

"No!" Mephistomon shouted just as MagnaAngemon plunged his sword, Excalibur, into the ram's chest. Mephistomon dissolved into data, his final act was betrayal.

"Well done, Billy," Daemon applauded. "Well done indeed. I will take my leave now. The fortress is yours. Go on, assault the human realm. I will come out on top in the end." The Kimeramon and Deltamon behind Billy roared as Daemon disappeared in a cloak of shadowy darkness. MagnaAngemon dedigivolved back to DemiDevimon and Billy began his search for the DigiPort to the Real World. The battle had been won, but the war was only just beginning.


	22. Fate and Knowledge

Fugamon and Hyogamon advanced themselves past Ogremon and Leomon and came upon Agumon and Gatomon, blocking their path to the fight. Brian and Hope stood behind their digimon and Duane had rushed over to Leomon's side. "Can't one of the others handle this?" Duane asked his partner

Hyogamon turned around and yelled "Snow Barrier!" and a giant wall of ice rose up from the newly broken asphalt around the Tamer and Leomon.

"No," Leomon replied, "that would be far too easy. Fist of the Beast King!" He threw his fist and out came the fiery head of a lion that stuck Ogremon squarely in the chest, knocking him back and against the giant wall of ice that surrounded them.

Ogremon rubbed his head as he stood up and said, "So, you want to play that way, do you?" He raised his hand and dark blobs shot out as he yelled, "Overlord Fist!"

Leomon held his sword out in front of him and sidestepped the attack. "Now, now, Ogremon. That wasn't very nice." A smile appeared between the digimon's lips as he charged at Ogremon with the intent of plunging his sword deep in his opponent's chest.

Outside the arena of ice, Fugamon raised his club in Agumon's direction and cried, "Evil Hurricane!" as a small storm burst forth from the end of the club and struck the dinosaur, knocking him tumbling backwards into the side of a building. The digivice in Hope's DigiBlade began to shine a brilliant pink light as Gatomon started the digivolution process.

"Gatomon, digivolve to-!" her form began to grow and extend, becoming more human-like. Her tail disappeared as her gloves dissolved and were replaced by thinner ones. Eight, angelic wings sprouted from Gatomon's back and her head was covered by a metal helmet. When she emerged from her digivolution, she brought up her bow and conjured an arrow of light. Pointing at Fugamon, she yelled, "Celestial Arrow!"

Just before her arrow left her, Hyogamon jumped up to her altitude and brought his ice club down on her arm. The icy digimon landed back on the ground and grinned at Angewomon. She returned his grin with a glare cold enough to chill even his blood. She charged at him and grabbed Hyogamon by the hair. She rose him high up into the air and threw him hurtling back toward the Earth.

Fugamon advanced on the dazed Agumon and began to beat him with his club. "Agumon!" Brian yelled. "Get up! Fight back! You have to digivolve!"

In between the beatings, Agumon managed to say, "I can't digivolve, I used up all of my energy." Brian hefted his giant battle axe into the air and rushed at Fugamon. As his DigiBlade came down, Fugamon lifted his bone club and the two weapons met with a loud crash. "Do you wanna play rough, boy?" Fugamon said. "Heavy Swing!" the orange ogre swung his club and hit Brian in the gut, knocking him back into the street. Brian landed on his back and scraped both of his elbows. For good measure, Fugamon also hit Brian with an Evil Hurricane attack, which pounded Brian into the asphalt, causing a small crater beneath him.

Meanwhile, Hyogamon was using his Throwing Ice attack, hurling giant icicles at Angewomon. She dodged every one of them and merely taunted his attempts. "Oh, you came close that time! Too slow! Maybe next time!" and other taunts as well. Hyugamon grew frustrated and rushed closer to his opponent. Angewomon met this challenge by slowing drifting back to the ground. "I'll tell you what Hyogamon," Angewomon calmly spoke with a hint of arrogance. She drew a line with her foot and continued, "if you can cross this line on your first attempt, you win the battle."

He scoffed at her. "Thats all? This is child's play! I accept this challenge!" He began to cackle with delight and did not notice Angewomon wink at Hope. As Hyogamon rushed over to the line, Hope took a step forward and tripped the ogre, who fell flat on his face, chipping one of his fangs.

He stood back up rubbing his chin. "Hey! That's not fair! I want a redo!"

"No redos!" Hope said as she banged her fist on the top of the digimon's head. He fell over and Angwomon flew to them. She lifted Hyogamon into the air and then rushed back at Hope. She lifted her DigiBlade and her partner skewered the ogre on it. He dissolved into data.

Duane stood behind Leomon with his back against the wall of ice that surrounded them. Ogremon had stood back up and the two digimon were exchanging blows. Both digimon had several cuts and scrapes and blood ran from Leomon's lip. "This is senseless." Leomon spoke to the Ogremon who was struggling to get out of his enemie's headlock. "What do you say we just knock down this barrier and leave?"

"Never." Ogremon grunted and managed to swing his legs up to make contact with Leomon's head. The lion let go of Ogremon and stumbled forward, landing on the ground. "Overlord Fist!" the other digimon cried and sent a flurry of dark energy at Leomon. The partner digimon rolled over just in time and got back up. Ogremon savagely jumped onto Leomon's back and began to claw and beat at Leomon's face. Duane could see the blood fly in every direction. He didn't know it, but the blood came just as much from Ogremon's fists and it did from Leomon's face.

Duane drew out his halberd and hit Ogremon with the blunt side of the axe. Ogremon flew off of Leomon and hit the ice wall before tumbling to the ground. "He isn't moving," Leomon stated. "What did you do?"

"I struck a nerve that paralyzed him for a little bit. It wont last long so you'd better hurry."

"Duane! That's genius!" Leomon exclaimed. Duane's digivice and digimon then began to glow.

Brian climbed out of the crater and brushed the crumbling asphalt out of his clothes. When he emerged he could see Hyogamon being destroyed and Fugamon wailing on Agumon.

Fire licked Agumon's lips and teeth as he yelled, "Pepper Breath!" He opened his mouth and the fire engulfed Fugamon's face. Agumon then smashed his own head into Fugamon's and knocked him back. Agumon sood up. He was blackened with the bruises and blood ran freely from several cuts on his face. To Brian, it seemed as though fire was bursting from the digimon's fingertips. The air temperature felt as though it was rising and soon fire surrounded Agumon as he yelled "Pepper Breath!" and a huge burst of flame was summoned and thrown at Fugamon. The ball of fire burnt through the ogre and fugamon dissolved into data. Agumon absorbed all of the data.

"Agumon," Brian gasped. "I had no idea you had that much power!" The data that he was absorbing was flowing into every bruise and cut. Soon every injury was healed as if it had never been there. The dinosaur fell to his knees and Brian rushed over and scooped him up. "Hey, you can't quit now. We have one more to go get."

Agumon winked weakly and chuckled. Brian carried his partner over to the wall of ice and met up with Hope and Angewomon.

The ice was so thick that they could not see through it at all. "It's going to take some doing to break through this," Angewomon told them.

"We can handle it," Hope replied.

"Right then," Brian said as he set Agumon down and helped steady him.

Agumon gave him the thumbs up and the four of them began to attack the ice. There was a flurry of axe and sword chops, Celestial Arrows, and Pepper Breaths. They stopped when a brilliant light began to shine through the ice however. "What's going on int here!" Brian cried.

"It's digivolution," Agumon said. "I can feel it."

"Leomon, digivolve to-!" The light shone more brightly as white cybernetic armour surrounded his limbs and chest. A metallic headband appeared on his forehead and his mane grew out. "GrapLeomon!" the new digimon yelled.

"Wow!" Duane exclaimed as his partner began to run to ogremon. He was moving at near the speed of light! To Duane, it was as if GrapLeomon was standing right next to him, and then before he could even blink his eye, the digimon was throwing ogremon into the center or the arena. Soon, GrapLeomon was rushing Ogremon from every conceivable angle, attacking with his Lion Cyclone Kick attack. He had given Ogremon a hundred blows in the span of ten seconds. GrapLeomon began to run around the perimeter of the arena until it seemed as though he had multiplied. "Lion Beast-Wave Chop!" GrapLeomon yelled as evey copy rasised its hand and a fiery chop landed a blow on Ogremon.

Every copy except one now remained. GrapLeomon stood above a barely breathing Ogremon. "Any last words?"

"I hate you." At that, GrapLeomon raised Ogremon above his head and threw him at the ice wall. He smashed a hole right next to where the humans and digimon were trying to break through on the other side. Ogremon was destoryed before he even hit the ground. GrapLeomon dedigivolved back ot Elecmon and he and Duane climbed out of the ice to greet theire bewildered friends.

As they celebrated their victory, Brian's brother, Peter stood out in the shadows where he could not be seen, watching them with a glare. "What is this?" he said to himself. "Does Brian really have power like this? What'd he do to deserve that? He doesn't deserve it. I'm better than he is." Peter turned around and began to walk back to the apartment.

"That sounds dumb." Deonna told Peter when he got home. Peter had told her what he had seen and she did not believe a word of it. "Brian controlling monsters that were fighting other monsters? Right, Peter."

"I'm being serious!" his nostrils flared as he grew a bit angry. "It was Brian and those two he brought home last night! They each have a monster! And weapons too! Brian has a huge axe!"

"You're right, Peter. Brian has a giant axe and a monster and he protects the city of San Diego from other monsters. That makes a lot of sense now that I think about it." She said very sarcastically.

"Fine. Whatever." Just then, the door opened and Brian, Hope, and Duane walked in. Peter grinned and said to Deonna, "Now I'll prove it!" He ran over to the three of them and was shocked to see just them. "But, where are your monsters?" He asked dumbstruck.

"Err... monsters?" Duane asked quickly.

"I think your brother hit his head, Brian." Hope put in.

Brian chuckled. He needed to get them out of the room and back to his bedroom. "Yeah, Peter. No more sugar before bed, okay? It obviously gives you strange dreams. Okay, let's go!" He said as he began pushing the two Tamers to his room.

When they enetered, Brian quickly shut the door behind them. "You three look like you've seen a ghost!" Gatomon told them. The three digimon had just entered from the balcony. They had climbed up to his room while they were talking to Peter.

"Well, my brother saw us today, I think. When we walked in, he was raving about monsters."

"We need to be more careful," Hope told them.

"Does this mean you're going to stick around for a bit?" Duane asked her.

"I suppose I don't have the choice. If the digimon can attack us here, then we are better off sticking together. I'll call my mom and tell her that I've won an all expense paid trip here or something. It's still summer and if I tell her it's acedemic then she'll probably let me stay."

"What about you?" Brian asked Duane.

"My mom doesn't care where I am. She most likely thinks I'm at Shuey's house."

"Then we got that all settled!" Brian said happily. "We are now a team! Hopefully the digimon won't come through very often.


	23. New Recruit

Billy sat upon what was once Daemon's throne, drumming his fingers on the arm rest in boredom. He had captured Daemon's castle weeks ago and Daemon had made no attempt to reclaim it. That fact had greatly disturbed Billy. The heavy black door to the throne room swung open and DemiDevimon walked in accompanied by a squad of Bakemon. Billy looked up in annoyance. "What do you want?"

"Wells, your majesty, yous gots a visitor!" the digimon had replied. "I now announce the prescence of your all high excellence, Lilithmon!"

The tiny digimon stepped aside and bowed as Lilithmon entered, her lavender cloak flowing behind her. "You've done well in capturing this castle, Dark Prince."

Billy stood at her prescence and bowed his head, but going no further. "Thank you, my lady. Have you come to bring me new instructions?"

"Yes I have." She walked closer to the throne and placed her hands on Billy's shoulder's, pushing him back down into his throne. She then sat in his lap and continued to speak. "I need you to go to the Real World now. I need you to find the Tamers who have been chosen by the DigiBlades we possess. Your plans with Gabbie would have worked if you had used the Black Splinters, you know. You will have to get over your fear of them soon. I want you to put three of them into the Tamers I want. They will be powerless to obey you, especially if you use DemiDevimon. This is where LadyDeivmon failed. One Black Splinter is simply not enough for a Tamer chosen by the DigiBlade. Their hearts are far too powerful."

"Who are these Tamers?" Billy asked, being careful not to look in her eyes. "You said once that you knew their names. Now I want to know them as well."

"The first that I want you to go after is a boy named Tyler Shuey." She informed him, brushing her hand against his forehead. "He lives in a place called Orygone. I believe you've heard of it."

"It's called Oregon." He corrected her. She slapped him lightly.

"Don't correct me, boy. Find Tyler and bring him back here." She drew closer to Billy, so close that he could feel her eylashes agaisnst his face. She whispered, "He has a mate. Use that against him. Don't fail me," And she vanished in a swoosh of darkness.

After a long while, Billy opened his eyes and saw DemiDevimon staring back at him from the floor in front of where he sat. "C'mon, DemiDevimon. We have work to do." When Billy stood up, DemiDevimon flew up and perched himself on Billy's shoulder.

"What's the plan, boss?"

"Exactly what Lilithmon said. We need to go to Oregon and track down this Tyler Shuey." Billy made his way out of the throne room and down the hallway. He took a right and down another corridor. At the end of this corridor was a staircase which at the bottom was a dungeon area. At the back of this was Daemon's digiport.

Billy raised his great broadsword up and plunged it into the portal. The digivice inlaid into the pommel reacted and a hologram map of the Real World shone above the screen. Billy pointed to a spot on the west coast of the North American continent and the portal rippled. When it was done, Billy pulled his Blade back out and he stepped into the portal.

Tyler rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he sat back up. He looked at the alarm clock with the plastic anime statue on top. 12:36. He had fallen asleep texting his girlfriend, Christina. "Oh, Stina, please forgive me..." He ran his fingers through his long blonde hair. There wasn't any point in trying to text her back. She was probably already asleep.

He took off his tie and pulled on a pair of sweats before crawling into his bed. The whole time, Billy stood outside his window watching him. He was completely unseen, a permanant resident of the shodowy darkness. Billy brought his hand up to his face and rubbed his chin.

"What's cookin' up in your head, boss?" DemiDevimon asked.

"Well, I was just thinking that we need to induce his digital experience. He won't believe anything we say if he doesn't see anything. We'll have to be careful about this though. He needs a partner, a digivice, and a reason to join us."

"So, what do we do?"

"We bring the fight to him."

Tyler woke up to his growling stomach. "Mom!" he yelled half asleep. "What's for breakfast?" no answer came back to him. "Mom?"

His little sister walked into the room and said, "Mom's not here. Look's like you have to get up off your own lazy butt and make yourself some food!" Cece laughed and walked out. Tyler threw a pillow out after her and immediately regretted it since he no longer had anything to block the incoming sunlight.

"Fantastic..." he grumbled. Tyler quickly got dressed and put on his shoes. He didn't particularly want to cook himself anything so he instead began to walk to the small store a short walk from his house. The warm summer breeze felt good against his skin and he decided that walking was a good idea.

As he reached the bottom of the hill that his house was on, the store became visible, but not for long. Soon the enitire area was covered in a thick fog that felt like nothing Tyler had ever experienced before. "That's odd," He said to himself. "Where'd this fog come from?" Just then, he heard a loud thump and the ground shake.

"V-Nova Blast!" a voice rang out from the distance. Tyler saw a light out in front of him, and then a V shaped beam shoot out of the fog directly at him. Tyler jumped to his left and rolled away. He stood back up and a figure came out of the fog. As it got closer, Tyler began to make out some of its features. It was a large, blue dragon with a white belly and a blue V on its chest. On its nose was a large horn. When the creature saw Tyler, it quickened its pace into a run and yelled, "Hammer Punch!" Throwing his fist in Tyler's direction.

Tyler jumped out of the way again and the monster's fist crashed into the ground. The monster roared at Tyler and chraged again. Tyler brought up his arms as a sheild and closed his eyes, awaiting the pain and possible death that awaited him. But it never came.

Instead, the monster's charge was met by another yell from behind Tyler. "Roaring Fire!" another creature yelled. Blasts of fire rained down on the blue monster, burning it and knocking it back. The other monster came into veiw now. It could only be described as a large man shape that was completely on fire. "Get behind me, Tyler." Without hesitation, the boy quickly ran behind the flaming monster. "This is no place for you, Veedramon. Go back home. Go back to the Digital World!" the flame creature yelled to the first monster.

Veedramoon laughed at the flame monster. "You're going to need to do a lot more if you want to scare me back to that forsaken wasteland, Meramon! Look at this world! It's full of trees! It still has life! I think I'll make this forest my new home! Cutter Shoot!" Veedramon swiped his claws at the air. From them came five blades of air which flew in the fire monster's direction. Meramon brought up his arms and flung fire from them. The fire made contact with the air blades and both attacks disappeared.

"Fool," Meramon said. He then yelled, "Fire Wave!" The flames on his body intesnified and the monster charged at Veedramon, who was engulfed in the all consuming fire. Tyler fell onto the ground out of complete shock.

Veedramon tried to get up but was too weak to do so. Meramon lifted the blue dragon above his head as his opponent screamed at the burning hands pushing their way into his skin. Meramon threw the beast across the highway where he crashed into the trees and dissolved into data.

Tyler sat up on his hands and knees as Meramon walked over to him. "What... what just... happened?" he asked Meramon.

"You walked into a Digital Field and were attacked by the digimon, Veedramon. You're lucky that I went through after him." Meramon told him. "Or maybe it wasn't luck. I knew your name after all. Tyler, isn't it?"

Tyler nodded, trying to keep track of everything that had happened.

"Surely we are partners then." Meramon exclaimed.

"Partners?" Tyler managed to say. As the fog began to clear, a bright light appeared in front of Tyler and drifted toward him. he held out his hands and inside appeared a small white device.

The Digivice lit up and shot a beam or light at Meramon. Then a voice came from it and said, "Synchronization Complete: Meramon. Confirm?"

Both human and digimon said "Yes" at the same time.

"Partners," Tyler mused.

Tyler had completely forgotten that he had been hungry at all and rushed home. His new partner had dedigivolved to DemiMeramon and could now easily fit through the window in Tyler's room. When Tyler had gotten through his front door and into his room, he asked DemiMeramon every question he could think of. The little digimon explained about digimon, the Digital World, the digivice, adn digivolution. By the time Tyler was up to speed with everything, It was already late at night.

Tyler and DemiMeramon soon fell asleep on the floor together. Billy, once again, was watching the progress of his plans. Once he was sure that both Tamer and partner were sound asleep, he opened the window and he and DemiDevimon quietly entered the room.

Billy craned his head towards the small digimon perched on his shoulder and quietly ordered, "Do it now." DemiDevimon silently flew down to the ground near their heads and said, "Evil Whispers!" and soon began weaving his lies into their ears.

Meanwhile, Billy reached into his pocket. When he pulled it out he opened his fist and revealed the three Black Splinters. He looked down at them in disgust and hatred. It wasn't fair for LadyDevimon to have used even one on Billy, and he felt bad putting three into this boy. Had he been who he was before the Black Splinter was implanted, he wouldn't have even considered doing it. But he wasn't the same anymore. And with that knowledge, he willingly threw the Black Splinters at Tyler's chest.

Straigh as an arrow, the three embedded themselves into his flesh. As they sank slowly into his chest, Billy felt a brief moment of regret and pity. The feeling disappeared when Tyler screamed in pain and opened his eyes. They glowed a bright red for a moment before he drifted back to sleep.

DemiDevimon finished his Evil Whispers and the two of them made their exit out of the window..

Tyler woke up the next morning with his chest itching really bad. It was a little red when he looked at it but he thought nothing of it and he simply got dressed. He decided to take DemiMeramon on a walk through the forest and show him his world. While they were walking, it felt as thoguh something were pulling him in a certain direction. He ignored the feeling as he answered any of DemiMeramon's questions. The little digimon floated nearby, whizzing in and out of the trees and around Tyler.

Suddenly, Tyler heard the snapping of a twig behind him. He quickly turned around and saw a dark haired boy standing there with his arms crossed. "Quick reflexes, that's good." The dark boy spoke. "But not nearly observant enough. I've been following you for some time now. The name's Billy." The boy held out his hand to be shaken.

Instead of shaking hands, Tyler's eyes darted to the heavy broadsword strapped to Billy's back.

"Oh, that?" The boy said, withdrawing his hand. "Its decorative." Tyler was sure that was a lie. "If I wanted to kill you you would already be dead. No, I want to enlist your help. You are a Tamer. One of the Eight I believe. You and your partner have potential beyond what other Tamers could ever dream of."

"I'm happy with just being me, thank you." Tyler replied cooly.

Billy smirked. "There's more. The monster you fought last night? There are more. Not always the same species, but there are more. They are called digimon and there are some of them that want to break through into this world and take it over. I don't want that to happen. In fact, I'm at war with two factions who want this world for themselves. One led by a human named Brian, and the other led by a digimon named Daemon. They will do anything to stop me. I need help." The boy then dropped to his knees and bowed his head. "I am begging now."

"Get up," Tyler groaned. "What happens if one of these other factions do take over?"

Billy stood back up. "Well, this world will no longer be safe. The human race will probably be enslaved or killed. Chances are you won't ever see your girlfriend again, or worse; see her in shackles doing the bidding of some random slave driver. Not really a fitting end for superior beings such as ourselves."

The mention of Christina snapped something inside of Tyler. He immediately wanted to believe everything that Billy had told him.

"Come with me, Tyler," Billy continued, "I can give you the power to save her."

Tyler bowed his head and reluctantly said, "Alright. I'll go with you."

DemiMeramon floated to his Tamer's side. "I'm with you, whatever decision you choose buddy! Partners!"

"I need to take you back to the Digital World with me." Billy anounced. "There we will get you your DigiBlade make plans to recruit another of the Eight." He glanced over at Tyler and noticed his eyes glow red again for a brief moment and thought, 'That's a bit unnerving... Do I do that too?' Billy pushed himself away from the thought and took out his black digivice.

"Why is yours black?" Tyler asked when he saw it.

"It was a gift from an old friend. It's more of a curse than you know. You just stick with the one you have." Billy then waved the digivice and a digiport opened in front of him. "After you," Billy motioned. Tyler hesitated. "Don't worry, it's safe. Oh fine, you big baby." He stormed off into the digiport and was soon followed by Tyler.


	24. Lily

Gabbie and Dobermon tumbled into the Real World and hit the grassy earth hard. They hit the side of a hill and rolled for several feet before coming to a stop. Gabbie layed on her back breathing heavely for several moments, starring at the night sky and trying to let the past few days sink in. She then sat bolt upright and brought a hand to her stomach.

There was a whole in her shirt where Daemon had stabbed her, but there was no wound. Dabermon saw the shock on her face and stood up to see what had caused it. When he saw that the wound had disappeared, he said, "But, Gabbie, how is that possible?"

She rubbed her fingers over where the wound used to be. "I... I don't know. The pain is gone too. I don't understand how it happened. It's just... gone."

"Maybe it was MagnaAngemon's presence." Dobermon suggested. "He is one of the holiest beings in the Digital World."

"Yeah. Maybe."

"So what do we do now?"

She had no idea how to answer that question. What was it Billy had said? He had lied about everything. She remembered that. He also said to search out Brian and his followers. But Billy had told her so many things about Brian's evil. He said he lied about that too. Why did Billy lie to her so much? Did he think that she wouldn't believe the truth? Or maybe he thought she would turn against him if she knew the truth. "Everybody deserves a second chance," she said, meaning as much about Brian as Billy. "Let's go find Brian and the other Tamers."

Dobermon closed his eyes and nodded. She put her hand on his back to steady herself as she stood up and the two then began to walk. They soon discovered that they had reappeared in a city park. There were pathways paved over with cement and several park penches. At every corner there were garbage cans, but still garbage littered the ground around them.

"Where do you think we are?" she asked her partner. It obviously wasn't where she had come from. The air smelled different and the wind felt odd to her.

"I don't have a clue." Dobermon conceded. "It smells like saltwater though."

"Do you think we're near the coast?"

"Most likely. I don't know which coast though. We could probably be anywhere in the human world right now."

They kept walking until they found their way out of the park. Beyond them they saw a great body of water which sparkled and glistened in the moonlight. There were docks filled with several boats out on its surface. The boats varied in sizes and splendour, some being large yachts and others being small fishing boats or sail boats.

"Look Dobermon! You were right! We are on the coast!" Gabbie exclaimed. "I've never seen the ocean before."

"The ocean in the human world is different than the one I knew in Digiworld. I had been there once in my youth. The image stuck in my head for years. The human ocean is more beautiful, I think."

"I want to see the ocean in you world too, Dobermon."

"Digiworld is no place for a human." He told her. "I couldn't take you there in good conscience. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine." she said a bit forlornly. "I understand."

They stood there, side by side, looking out at the human ocean for what seemed to be forever. Dobermon looked up at Gabbie's face and said, "We should get out of here. We need a place to sleep." She placed a hand on Dobermon's head and scratched behind his ears before they set out again.

They started walking away from the ocean and more into the city. Soon, they couldn't see the ocean at all past the large buildings. The two of them reached a part of the city that seemed to have been destroyed by something. Walls were crumbling, cars were smashed, the asphalt of the street was torn up, and there was a melting circle of ice too. The area was blocked off by police tape and there was a squad car parked on the edge of the perimeter. Vaguely curious she wanted to take a look, but the need for sleep and food drove her away. Another block or so away, Gabbie found a line of apartment buildings with balconies on them. Between two of theses buildings was an alleyway and inside the alleyway was a small fort.

She walked down the alley, past the dumpsters and overflowing trashcans, and investigated the fort. The inside was a lot bigger than what the outside suggested. Inside was rotting wood, a dirt floor, and dusty furniture. There was a rickety table and a few sturdy chairs. Several cupboards lined one wall and there was even some counterspace underneath those. She didn't even have to stoop down, although she almost had to. Finding the softest spot of ground she could, Gabbie laid down next to Dobermon and they went to sleep.

Brian, Hope, Duane, Agumon, Gatomon, and Elecmon were sitting around in Brian's room being bored. There hadn't been any new Digital Fog appearances since the fight with Ogremon a few days ago. The TV was turned on to a local news channel, but was forgotten as the day went on. So far, all the government knew was that these eerie fogs would appear and when somebody went in, they didn't come out. They also cleverly deduced that the buildings ans surrounding structures inside the fog often came back destroyed with things such as scorch marks, gashes from claws, huge ice monoliths, or even a flooded area.

"You know what?" Brian said sitting straight up. The others looked at him with little interest in what he was going to say. "I'm hungry and I'm sick of eating the food here. Let's go out for a walk! We could go get us some food while the digimon stay here. We'll bring them something home when we get back."

"I think that's a great idea!" Hope exlaimed.

"Does that mean I have to get up?" Duane groaned from beneath the jacket he was using to block the sun with.

"Yes it does, Duane." Brian told him with a nudge of his foot. Duane reluctantly sat up and yawned profusely.

"Why do we have to stay?" Agumon asked.

"Because we're monsters, silly." Gatomon told him without openening her eyes. She had taken over Brian's bed and wouldn't let anybody on other than Hope. Anybody who got on while she was on it wasknocked off with a well placed Lightning Paw attack. Brian and Agumon were once again reduced to sleeping on the floor.

"I keep telling you that people would be afraid of you if they saw you." Brian said to Agumon. "Humans aren't used to seeing monsters walking through their streets yet."

"But I'm cute as a button!" Agumon retorted making a funny face by pulling on his cheeks. "See?"

Brian bowed his head and chuckled. "It doesn't matter, Agumon. Just please stay here okay?"

Agumon let go of his face and pouted a bit. "Alright, I'll stay here."

Once that was decided, the three humans left the apartment and began walking up the street. They walked for about twenty minutes to a nearby deli and they ate the most delicious sandwiches that they had ever had. Duane ate three all by himself and was still stuffing his face on the way back. Hope elected herself to carryy their partner's food just in case Duane or Brian decided to get a little liberal with it.

As the three of them were wlkaing back and talking amongs themselves about various subjects, a fog began to settle down over them. "Not again," Hope said.

"Agumon!" Brian cried. The digimon did not answer and was nowhere to be seen.

"What do we do witout our digimon?" Duane panicked.

Just then, they heard a girl scream. Brian raised his hand out infront of him and his mighty DigiBlade appeared. He then ran off in the direction of the scream.

"Wait!" Duane called. "Where are you going?"

"Wait for me!" Hope yelled, following Brian and leaving Duane.

Duane dropped his shoulders, defeated, and ran off after his friends. Deeper into the Fog they ran, Brian leading the with his DigiBlade outstretched in front of him and the other two trailing behind brandishing their weapons.

Brian was moving a lot faster than the other two, driven by a sense of duty. He was soon swallowed by the Fog until it was hard to make out his figure. Brian kept moving until the source of the scream came into view. There was a dark haired girl in a denim skirt laying on the ground and being harrassed by a snickering Gazimon. "Whassa mattah, hyooman?" The Gazimon prodded her as she screamed. "Don't like da big bawd monstuh?"

She screamed some more and Brian rushed over to her aid. Running over, he swung his battle axe upward and hit the digimon in the chest, knocking him over backwards. "How about you pick on somebody who's going to fight back?" Brian growled when the rabbit sat back up.

"Anothuh hyooman?" Gazimon replied, rubbing his head. "A bigguh one too. I bettuh scram!" The Gazimon stood all the way up and bolted away from the scene.

"That was a bit of a disappointment." Brian said to himself as he watched teh Gazimon fade away with the Fog. .

Brian quickly walked over to the girl's side and knelt down beside her. "Are you okay?" He asked.

The dark haired girl sat upright a bit more and looked up at him. She had pretty, almost purple colored eyes and pitch black, shoulder length hair. Her skin was smooth and looked soft. "Yeah," she said in a voice like silk. "I'm alright now." The two of them just stared at each other, smiling. When the Fog had finished clearing away, Hope and Duane had finally arrived.

"Who's this, Brian?" Hope said when she got closer.

Brian stood up, only just now noticing that his friends had arrived. He extended his hand out to the girl he saved and helped her up. "Oh, this is..."

"Lily," she told them when she was up all the way. "My name is Lily." She dusted off her skirt and checked her blouse to make sure that it wasn't too dirty. Brian couldn't help but notice that it was a low cut shirt. "And you three are?" she asked examining them.

"My name is..." Hope started, but Brian stepping in front of her and cut her off.

"I'm Brian. It's nice to meet you, Lily." He smiled at her and Hope pushed him aside irritated.

"As I wa saying," Hope continued. "My name is Hope, and this boy here is Duane. The dunce over there is Brian."

Lily took a step towards Brian, "Thank you for saving me from that... thing. I would have been a goner if it wasn't for you." She then stood up on her tip-toes until she was tall enough to kiss Brian on the cheek.

Brian blushed and turned around so nobody could see his face. "Oh, umm... thanks! But it really was nothing. I was just doing what i thought seemed right."

"Well, looks like it's about time for us to be leaving." Hope said while grabbing Brian's shirt sleeve and pulling him away.

"Will you walk me home?" Lily asked Brian before Hope could pull him anywhere. "I don't want ot run into any more of those things without somebody else around."

"Yeah sure!" Brian replied enthusiastically. Without turning to Hope and Duane, he told them, "You two just go on back. I'll be along soon."

"Maybe we should just come with you?" Hope declared more than asked.

"Nah," Duane said. "Let's just go. I'm tired and would like to get off my feet." Hope grumbled but reluctantly followed Duane back to Brian's apartment. Brian and Lily walked together in the opposite direction. When they reached the place that she announced was her house, she hugged him and gave Brian her phone number.


	25. Past and Present

He stood on the balcony outside of Peter's bedroom as the young boy slept. Billy was just a silhouette in the darkness, barely seen, never heard. He took a step closer. 'Could it really be possible that my next recruit is Brian's own brother?' Billy thought. 'It seems too perfect! The boy even hates Brian!'

Billy quietly slid open the sliding glass door and stepped inside. DemiDevimon silently flew off of his should and nested on the nightstand beside the bed. Peter lay there, ocmpletely unaware of the intruders in his room. "Do it." Billy commanded. DemiDevimon moved a bit closer towards Peter and used an Evil Whispers attack. He spun his web of lies into the boy's ear and slowly, he began to believe them in his sleep addled mind.

When that was over, Billy produced three Black Splinters from his pocket and looked at them in his hand. There was no hesitation this time as he threw them at Peter. The three evil devices lodged themselves in his chest and slowly sunk into his soul, twisting his mind and filling his will with evil. Peter opened his eyes and screamed at the pain that he would not remember. It was a pain the peirced every pore of his being and penetrated his very most personal self. He could not help but bend to the power of the Black Splinters.

When he stopped screaming, his eyes glowed red for a moment and he fell back asleep. Billy made his way out of the room just as Brian, Hope, and Duane burst through the door to investigate the screaming.

When they opened the door, the trio noticed two things. One was that, despite his blood curling screams, Peter was fast asleep. The second was that the sliding glass door was wide open and cold air was billowing in.

"What were you screaming about, Pete?" Brian woke up his brother. Duane closed the door.

"What are you talking about?" Peter half grunted from underneath a pillow. "I didn't scream! Now get out of my room. Stop being stupid."

"C'mon, let's go. I want to go back to sleep." Hope said with a yawn. The threee of them left Peter's room without another word.

They didn't see Peter anywhere in the apartment the next day. It seemed as though he had just disappeared. "He's a jerk anyway." Brian said. "He probably went to a friend's house. Don't expect him back for awhile."

"Alright then." Hope said. "I think we should go patrol the city today. It's obivous now that not all of the Fog incidents will be put on the news channels. Not when so many of them appear. For all we know there could be several digimon roaming around the city causing mischief."

"I think that's a great idea!" Brian exclaimed and immediately jumping to his feet.

"But I wanted to have a lazy day today." Duane cried in a whiney voice.

"Too bad!" Brian said, throwing Duane's shoes at him. "Agumon! if you dedigivolve to Koromon then I can take you with me!"

Agumon launched himself into the air in delight and was Koromon again before he hit the ground. "Yay! I'm so excited! Take me to a hotdog stand!"

"Of course I will!" Brian grabbed a backpack from his closet and walked back to Koromon. "You're going to have to be carried in this though. Sorry pal."

Koromon didn't even look like he was sad about that. "No problem! anything to get out of this stuffy old room!" and the little pink ball jumped into the bag. Brian left it unzipped a little so the digimon could breathe.

Hearing all of the delight coming from Koromon, Gatomon opened her eyes, stretched, and walked beside Hope. The little cat tugged at Hope's shirt and said, "Can I come too?"

"Oh I suppose so." She replied. "It would probably be best in case we run into any trouble. Brian got lucky yesterday with that rookie level."

"I did not get lucky!" Brian retorted. "That was all skill!"

"At least you have plenty of space to keep all that skill and that big ego of yours."

"Why I oughtta!"

"Oughtta what?" Hope asked with her hands on her hips.

"I dunno! But I oughtta anyway!"

"You're an idiot. Get up Duane."

"But I don't wanna." Duane told her in a fake whiney voice.

Elecmon jumped on Duane's stomach and said, "Yeah, Duane! Let's go! I want out of this room too!" He continued to happily bounce on top of Duane.

Between bounces, Duane said, "If I get up will you promise to stop bouncing on me?"

Elecmon jumped off of his tamer and said, "Yes indeedy! Now let's skeedaddle!"

Elecmon, Gatomon, and Koromon were all placed in bags and slung over their Tamer's shoulders and the group set out to patrol te city.

The night before, after Brian and the others left Peter's room, he was unable to sleep. Peter got up out of bed and pacedhis room for a bit. Suddenly, he heard the humming of a fan and some beeping. He turned around to find that his computer was booting up on its own. "What the-" but that was all he could make out before the screen flashed a bright light in his eyes that made him stumble and fall out of surprise. He sheilded his eyes with his hand, but curiousity kept making him take peeks at the computer. The bright light dimmed a little bit, enough for him to see anyway. He stood up, still sheilding his eyes, and walked over to the computer.

A window opened up on the screen. He read it outloud, "'Get dressed. You're about to embark on the journey to your destiny.' What does that mean?"

When he was done reading it, another window opened up. This one showed a strange looking jungle. Sitting down on the ground was a boy with dark hair. The boy looked up and spoke, "Hello, Peter. Hurry up and get dressed now. I haven't got all day. I have something for you first though. Hold out your hands."

Peter did as he was instructed and immediately the computer screen glowed again. This time however, a beam shot out of it and an object landed in his outstretched palms. He looked at it. It was a small white device.

"It's called a digivice." The boy in the computer said. "It will become a very useful tool for somebody like you."

"Somebody like me?"

"Yes. Peter, you're a special type of person. You are Digidestined. Inside of you is power beyond that of normal people. And together we can become stronger. Get dressed and I'll tell you more."

Peter did exaclty that. He put on his favorite sweater, it was black with a face sticking out its tongue. The hood was red and there were zippers on the sides and on the arms. He then walked back over to the computer. "Now what?"

"Now you come here, to the Digital World."

"The Digital... World... How do I there?"

"I had hoped that Brian had told you more about all of this. Oh well. Hold up your digivice to the screen."

Peter did that. The next thin he knew, he was engulfed in a bright light and he felt weightless. Then a feeling like passing through a spider web fell over him. After that, he felt solid again and had weight. The air was warm and he could feel the sun. Peter opened his eyes and found himself inside of the strange jungle on his computer. He turned around and saw the boy standing there.

"My name is Billy." He was taller than Peter. Billy walked closer to him. "We have a common enemy, you and I."

"And he is?"

"Oh I thought you'd know better than I. He is your brother after all." Billy turned around and looked out into the jungle. "You see, i hate Brian. I want him to die. I believe you can help me with that."

A grin made its way across Peter's face. "I'm in."

"Excellent. Now I'd like you to meet your new partner digimon. His name is Dorumon." From behind Billy came a small furry dinosaur. It was purple and had small black wings. On its forehead was a red jewel. "Dorumon, this is your new Tamer. His name is Peter and he will be very useful to us.

"Brian, I think we need to have a private talk for a moment." Hope said to him irritatedly.

"Why?" He said, gawking at Lily.

"I think you know why."

They had been walking the town when out of nowhere Lily appeared carrying a picnic basket full of food.

When Brian and Hope had walked out of earshot of Duane and Lily, she bagan to scold him. "I cannot believe that you invited her on a patrol trip! What if something happens? What then? Are you just going to swoop in and protect her? Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Brian's eyes snapped aways from Lily and found Hope's angry face. He shuddered beneath her gaze. "I just figured that we could use osme company is all. And she brought food too!"

"Are you even listening to me? She could get hurt if we run into any digimon! That's what we're doing, remember? We're out here looking for digimon to fight!"

"Oh come on, Hope. Nothing's going to happen. She will be fine. Now let's go eat before Duane gets it all." Brian walked past her and made his way back to the park bench beneath the tree where the other two sat. Most of the whole time, Duane gawked at the food, Brian gawked at Lily, and Hope sat there irritated. The three Tamers slipped some food into their backpacks for the digimon to eat.

After everybody was fed, the trio began their patrol again, accompanied by Lily, who walked next to Brian. They walked all over town, looking down every alley and up every street. They had to lie to Lily about what they were doing and instead told her that they were looking for Duane's lost dog.

"But I don't have a- OW!" Duane started before Hope stomped on his foot. "I mean, yeah, yeah. Poor ol' Spots, all lost out here in this big city! I miss him so! I remember when we brought little Rex home for the first time. He was so small! And now my best friend is missing! Where are you Rover?"

"Right... well let's keep looking for... what was his name again?" Hope asked.

"Roy."

"Let's just, shall we?" Brian said.

They saw no digimon that day and eventually said goodbye to Lily and went home.

Billy took Peter and Dorumon back to his fortress where the two were introduced to Tyler and DemiMeramon. When they all arrived, a feast was prepared and they ate well that night. At the end of the feast, Billy rose and spoke to them. "The time is finally here! We now have the other two Tamers and their partners and have distributed the DigiBlades to both of them! Tyler recieved the katana DigiBlade, and Peter, the spear! Tomorrow, we will begin assaulting the Human Realm with digimon!"

"Haven't you already been sending digimon into the Real World?" Peter asked. He was sitting in his chair slumped down, looking bored.

Tyler sat across from him, with a thoughtful face on his features. He tightened his tie and said, "We haven't sent any digimon through the portal."

"Daemon..." Billy said quietly to himself, looked down. He liftedhis head back up and spoke louder this time, "We have another enemy it seems. In the week or so that has passed in the Real World, Years have passed here in the Digital World. It would seem that in that time, Daemon has managed to prepare himself and army to scout the Human World. Soon, we will be forced to make open war with him. It may be time to go public in the eyes of the humans."

"Thass wha' I'ma talkin' 'bout, boss!" DemiDevimon sang. "When to we begins the publicity stunts?"

"Within a few human days. In the meantime, we will begin sending our troops in small squads tomorrow to assess how many of our enemies forces have invaded the humans. The three of us will soon confront Brian, Hope, and Duane as well. I do not believe that they will be able to stand against us when we go ultimate to ultimate."

"DemiMeramon and I can't wait!" Tyler said. "We're very excited for this!"

"Shut up." Billy told him.

Gabbie sat up in her makeshift bed and let out a monstrous yawn. She stretched out her arms and attempted to get the stiffness out of her neck. She didn't feel very good at the moment because her allergies were acting up again. She had a stuffy nose and a soar throat. Sensing her newfound awakefullness, Dobermon lifted his head from his sleep. "Good morning, Dobermon." She told him. The large dog digimon stood up on all fours and shook his head to get the drowsiness out.

"Good morning, Gabbie. How did you sleep?"

"Poorly." She chuckled and pet Dobermon's head. "We should go out and look for some food today, don't you think?"

"Yes," Dobermon agreed. "I think that's a great idea. I could really go for some donuts at the moment. Just thinking of those glazed morsels of awesome is making my mouth water." Dobermon could feel his mouth salivating and quickly closed his mouth before he began to drool.

Gabbie laughed, "Yes, that sounds perfect. Let's go buy us some donuts." She smiled and stood up. The two of them exited the dusty and forgotten club house in the alley. Once out in the streets, they picked a direction and began to look for a grocery store. They passed large buildings, mostly apartments, although there were several houses and a few knick knack shops too.

They eventually came back to the park where they had first entered the city through the portal at. "Maybe we should go in a different direction." Dobermon suggested. "I don't remember seeing any shops around here the when we first entered the Human World."

"Nonsense. We're next to the pier. There is always food at the pier in the movies. I say let's go check it out."

"Well, alright." Dobermon agreed reluctantly. "But I don't have a good feeling about this."

The two of them began to walk to the beach. There were several piers across the area here many filled with people, boats, animals, and especially seagulls. The birds seemed to be largely unafraid of humans. Even so, they decided to steer clear of Dobermon who would nip at the annoying creatures when they got near. They wandered through the crowds, looking at all of the vendors and their wares. Gabbie bought the two of them chili dogs and fries and bought a milkshake to share as well. They sat down at the end of the pier and watched the ocean's waves as they ate.

With her feet dangling over the edge, Gabbie laid down on her back and let her food settle in her stomach. She closed her eyes and relaxed as the sun's rays were soaked into her skin. The wood of the pier was warm and it felt good to her. She couldn't think of a time when she felt more calm and at peace since she fled the digimon attacking her at her house all those days ago. It seemed so long to her. She couldn't remember how long she had been gone.

Gabbie opened her eyes and noticed something behind her and Dobermon. Gabbie rolled over onto her stomach and held her head up with her hands, her elbows were resting on the warm wood of the pier. The air had changed its density it seemed. She noticed that it was foggier and she couldn't see more than a few feet in any direction.

Dobermon turned his head towards her. "Digimon, Gabbie. I can smell them." Just then, Gabbie noticed a man walk out from behind a large crate. He was wearing a blue, pin-striped business suit with a grey cloak over it. The cloak was trimmed in red and he was also wearing a large red scarf around his neck that draped down his front. The man had long white hair flowing beneath a black helmet shaped like the head of a dog. He was leaning on a large gun.

Dobermon squared his shoulders, lowered his head, and snarled at the man. Gabbie sat upright and said, "Dobermon, what's going on?"

"That is Astamon." Dobermon informed her. "He has come for me."

"Dobermon," Astamon said. "I'm so happy you remember me. I've been looking for you, you know. You owe me a large sum. I have come to collect on your debt."

"I don't have any money." Dobermon growled.

"Our deal was not for money. I'm sure you remember that. The deal was for your soul. It's a shame that you got the girl involved in this. I don't like taking the lives of the innocent."

Astamon straightened himself up and hefted up his heavy tommy gun. Dobermon instantly retaliated and yelled, "Black Beam!" A shot of dark energy was released from the dog's mouth and hit the gun, knocking it out of Astamon's hands.

"You will pay for that!"

"Gabbie!" Dobermon cried. "Get away from here!"

"No!" She cried, standing up now. "I won't leave!" She pulled out her digivice from her pocket.

Her digimon rammed her with his head and knocked Gabbie off the side of the pier and into the ocean below. "I'm sorry, Gabbie, but he's just too powerful."

"Hell Fire!" Astamon yelled, firing the tommy gun he had retrieved form the ground. He sprayed bullets all in front of him in great sweeping motions.

"Gray Noise!" Dobermon yelled, releasing a grey beam of energy and the wave of ammo rushing towards him. The bullets froze in midair as their data became glitched.

"Smart dog!" Astamon congratulated. Then, with lightning speed, Astamon ran at Dobermon, who had no time to react to his opponents Maverick attack. Astamon pulled back his leg as it was engulfed in dark energy and struck Dobermon in the chest. Dobermon was knocked flying back and was only just able to hang on to the edge of the pier. Dobermon glanced down over his shoulder at the crashing waves.

"Dobermon!" Gabbie yelled. She had swam to the shore underneath the pier and turned around to see her partner hanging off of the edge. "Dobermon! Hang on!" She pulled her digivice back out, trying to give Dobermon a little bit more strength.

Dobermon managed to climb back up onto the pier. Astamon was nowhere to be found. The digimon took a few steps forward. Then a few more. Then he ran over to the crate where Astamon had appeared from. "Where are you?" Dobermon demanded. "Show yourself! Coward!"

"Now, now, Dobermon." Said a voice. "Let's play nicely. There's no need for name calling!" Dobermon looked up and saw the silhouette of a pair of boots above him just before Astamon landed on the dog's back, hard. Dobermon fell to the ground underneath the weight of the demon. Astamon grabbed Dobermon by the ears and jerked upward, lifting the dog's head. The demon digimon took a knife off of his belt and placed the blade against Dobermon's throat. Dobermon struggled against Astamon's grip, but to no avail. "This is the end, Dobermon. You are about to pay what is owed to me. Your blood will fulfill the contract. Good bye."

Just then, a rock struck Astamon in the shoulder, making him stumble off of Dobermon. The pinned digimon recognized his opportunity and bit at Astamon's arm and struggling free from the grasp. Dobermon quickly jumped to the side and got back into a battle stance.

"Who dares to strike the great Astamon?" the demon demanded. He turned around to see a soaking wet Gabbie standing several yards to his left. "You! The girl!"

"Nobody hurts my friends!" Gabbie called, hefting another large rock in her hand. "Take this!" Gabbie threw the rock at Astamon, who lifted up his hand and caught the rock before crushing it into dust.

"You will pay for your insolence, girlie." Astamon raised his tommy gun and yelled, "Hell Fire!" The digimon began spraying the bullets in huge arcs in Gabbie's direction. She was able to dodge behind another large crate though before any hit her.

Dobermon positioned himself behind the distracted Astamon and then pounced on the demon's back, knocking him over. The tommy gun hit the ground a slid several feet before coming to a rest. "You will not hurt Gabbie!" Dobermon cried as he tore at Astamon's neck from behind.

Astamon quickly elbowed Dobermon and sent him flying to the side. "Get off of me you mangy mutt. Now where's my gun?"

"Looking for this?" Gabbie asked, holding the huge tommy gun. It was a little bit too big for her and she struggled to keep it up, but she continued to point it at the demon. "Leave. Now."

"You ain't got the heart, girlie." Astamon told her, obviously unsure of himself. "Why don't you hand over that there gun before you hurt somebody, eh?"

"No."

"Why you little," he replied to her, making a reach for the gun. Gabbie closed her eyes and pulled the trigger. The bullets pierced the demon's flesh and tore him apart. Chunks of his skin and muscle tissue flew everywhere. Blood sprayed across the ground and nearby crates. Gabbie emptied the clip and then let the smoking gun fall to the ground. She was breathing heavily and wasn't quite sure what it was she had just done. Astamon fell to his knees and looked upward at the sky. He began to laugh at the Digital Fog. A horrible, insane laugh that made no sense to Gabbie.

When Astamon had finished his insane spurt of laughs, he manage to pull himslef back to his feet. Blood ran down his face and dripped off of his fingers. He looked very sternly at Gabbie. "Merverick!" He yelled, and rushed at Gabbie, getting ready to kick her with the dark energy that he had built up into the end of his boot.

Gabbie screamed and sheilded herself with her arms. Dobermon stood back up and made a lunge at Astamon, biting his leg and taking all of the dark energy into himself. Astamon fell down to the ground again, laughing and looking up into the Digital Fog. The insane digimon was laying down on his back, his leg mangled and bent at a weird angle. Dobermon walked over and place a paw on Astamon's throat.

"It seems, Dobermon, that you won't have to pay any debt to me after this day." Astamon told him. "My days are numbered. I had hoped it would be in a fight. But never did I suspect that it would be in a fight against a champion level and a human girl!" He began to laugh again.

"My debt has been paid with blood, as was our agreement. Black Beam!" Dobermon yelled and opened his mouth, releasing the dark energy into the face of Astamon. The demon digimon screamed in pain and was dissolved into data.

"Dobermon," Gabbie said quietly. Her partner turned around to face her. "What just happened?"

"That was a demon lord named Astamon. He is very business like and ran a very bad gang of digimon back in the Digital World. He was a part of Daemon's army. I used to be a virus type digimon, Gabbie. I'm sorry I've never told you that. I wasn't always a good guy." He stepped a bit closer to her. "It seems as though my past caught up to me. We struck a deal once. I had an enemy who I could not defeat. I hated this enemy of mine. I wanted him gone. I asked Astamon to dispose of my enemy. The price for blood is blood however, and I wasn't willing to pay it. I ran away. I no longer wanted any part of that life. I decided to make myself into a vaccine. I began hunting down all of the virus type digimon I could find and destroying them. I became a very successfull Virus Buster- a digimon who destroys virus types for a living. But that then I met you. I had then realized that my destiny was to protect you. Given my past, I wouldn't be surprised if you now want protection from me." Dobermon bowed his head in shame.

"Dobermon..." Gabbie said quietly. Dobermon turned around and began to walk away. "Dobermon!" Gabbie stood up and ran over to him. She went around to the front of him and gave Dobermon a hug. "Dobermon. You are my best friend. I don't want you to go. A person is who he is. Not who he was."

"Gabbie..." Dobermon rested his head on her shoulder.

"Don't leave me."

"I won't."


	26. Meet the Digidestined!

"What!" Daemon yelled at the messenger. The cloaked digimon sat upon a throne made of the skulls of several small digimon. "Say that to me again, Veggiemon."

"S-sir," the terrified digimon began. "Lord Astamon has been d-destroyed. The g-girl you killed! She isn't dead, your majesty!"

Daemon stood up. "How could this be?" He asked himself. "I killed the girl. I watched as the blade ran her through. Unless... yes, that must be it. MagnaAngemon's holiness must have affected her. Repaired the data. Who helped her defeat Astamon? She must have found Meramera and Light by now."

"No sir." Daemon turned angrily to the Vegiemon, who cowered but continued, "The Heart was alone. Her and the Dobermon she travels with defeated him all by themselves."

"Any more bad news?" Daemon asked the frightened digimon angrily.

Vegiemon cowered more, sinking low to the ground. "S-sir, we've learned that after Chisiki escaped from Datamon and joined Meramera and Light, the three of them made their way back to the Human World. Also, Dark has collected two more digidestined into his army and infected them with Black Splinters. Meramera's brother, Shinko, and the other boy, Shinrai, both have digiblades and are being trained to fight with their partners who can now digivolve to ultimate. Within a few months they will be ready to attack the Human World, and they may claim it for their own."

"Do you have any good news at all?" The demon lord demanded, raising his voice to a frightening level.

"They served chili in the cafeteria today."

Daemon became enraged. "Insolent fool!" He pulled a sword from a rack near the throne and stuck in through the Vegiemon. The look of horror as Vegiemon watched himself dissolve right before his very eyes would have been burned into the mind of any sane person. Daemon watched the death of te digimon and savoured every moment of it. He then absorbed the data into himself and could feel the tiny amount of power fill him. "A weak digimon. Barely enough energy to fill a thimble."

Daemon threw the sword so that it lodged itself into the stone wall to his left. He then began to pace around the throne room, thinking deeply about his next move. He would have to be cunning, clever, unexpected. "So, seven of the eight have been discovered. Meramera, Dark, Light, Chisiki, Heart, Shinko, and Shinrai. There is only one left now. We must find this person before somebody else does. I will attack Meramera to keep him distracted while I have my troops searching the city for Seijitsu. The eighth will be mine."

Christina looked up into the warm and inviting sky as she lay down on the sandy beach. "Christina." a small voice to her side called. "Oh Christina, I really don't like beaches that much. Why'd you drag me here?"

Christina looked over at the digimon. Lunamon was a white, rabbit-like digimon who looked like she was wearing a gown that covered her feet. She had belts over her shoulders the criss-crossed in the front. There was a small medallion with a crescent moon inlaid into it where the belts overlapped. Lunamon stood up and kicked the sand castle she had been making.

"Don't be such a bad sport, Lunamon." Christina told her. "The beach is amazing! The sun! The people! The ocean! I get so relaxed when I hear the waves off in the distance!"

"Yeah? Well what about the sand, huh?" Lunamon put her hands on her hips. "The sand gets everywhere! I'm going to be picking this stuff out of my ears for weeks! Or the jellyfish! What if we step on one? It's going to hurt really bad, you know! And there certainly isn't enough food for me to snack on."

"Oh that's why you're so grumpy today!" Christina said. "You must be hungry."

Lunamon's stomach growled loud enough for Christina to hear it. "Maybe."

Christina giggled and pulled something out of her bag.

"Is that a-" Lunamon began as her mouth started to water.

"Yep! It's a peanutbutter, banana, and pickle sandwich! Just for you!" Christina handed it to Lunamon who immeditely snatched it away and tore the plastic off. She then stuffed the whole sandwich into her mouth and chewed. Lunamon swallowed the whole thing in one gulp and fell over backwards, crushing her sand castle even more. The small digimon stared upward blankly in a daze of happiness.

Christina laughed some more and pulled out a ham sandwich for herself. As she ate, the digivice in her backpack began to beep, and two dots showed up on the screen.

That morning, after breakfast, Brian, Hope, Duane, and the digimon were sitting around in Brian's room.

"Okay, so Peter has been missing for two days now." Brian said. "My grandparents are absolutely frantic. They think he's run away or something."

"Maybe Billy kidnapped him?" Hope suggested.

"Maybe." Brian agreed. "But how did Billy get to the Real World? The digiport was destroyed when LadyDevimon's castle was, wasn't it?"

"The digimon are still getting through," Duane reminded him. "There has to be another digiport somewhere. Maybe Billy knows where it is and is using it."

"Okay, so then why hasn't he attacked us directly?" Hope asked. "I can think of several times when we have let our guard down and have been vurnerable. We know that he does want me. If he knows I'm here, then why hasn't he made any direct moves against us?"

"Maybe he's biding his time?" Brian suggested. "You know, trying to get more powerful. Three ultimate level digimon can easily best one, no matter how powerful NeoDevimon is."

"So, if it isn't Billy sending the digimon through the digiport, then there must be somebody else doing it, right?" Duane said.

"Right," Hope agreed. "We just need to figure out who. LadyDevimon is dead. We made sure of that."

"She acted like she was taking orders from somebody else though," Duane told them. "Maybe her superior is doing it?"

"So then who was giving LadyDevimon orders?" Brian asked thoughtfully. He laid down on his back with his legs up agaisnt the wall. Hope was sitting backwards in the chair at the desk, leaning her arms against the back rest. Duane was sprawled out face-down on the floor. The digimon were in their in-training forms, playing out on the balcony. Brian could hear them laughing and rough housing, tackling and pushing each other around. Koromon was doing circles on top of the table out there when Gatomon's in-training form, Nyaromon, bit one of his ears, causing him to jump off of the table and crash into a potted plant. Elecmon, being the only one who retained his rookie form for the moment, sat in a corner laughing at the other two.

"So what's our next move?" Hope asked.

"The only thing I can think of to do is to wait until they make a move." Duane told her. "It isn't like we have the resources to go and attack them. And even if we did, we wouldn't have the man power to take on the full army of whoever keeps sending those digimon at us. From what I can tell, we're being hit with simple recon squads. Essentially scouting parties surveying the area. It's obvious that there are a lot of digimon aligned with our mystery villain."

"And every last one of them wants a piece of us, eh?" Brian said as he sat up, readjusting the goggles on his forehead.

"Presumably, yes." Duane replied.

It was then that the trio heard the doorbell ring. Curious, Hope stood up and went out to took a look over the balcony. "You can't be serious." She said forlornly when she saw who the visitor was.

"What?" Duane asked.

"It's Lily." Hope said, throwing her arms up in the air. "What's she doing here?"

"I invited her over for lunch." Brian told her.

"Well, then I had better leave." Hope said. "I wouldn't want to be a third wheel. C'mon, Duane. We're going to the beach. Brian's going to buy us some swim suits and food too!"

"I am?" Brian said shocked. "When was this decided?"

"Just now." Hope told him. "Where's your wallet?"

Brian was forced to give up some money to pay for Hope and Duane's beach trip. They took their digimon with them as well, leaving Koromon to sit on the desk by himself. Brian's sister, Deonna, opened the door and told Lily where Brian's room was. Lily walked through the door just as Hope and Duane were leaving.

"They seem to be in hurry." Lily remarked, sitting down on the bed next to Brian.

"Yeah, they wanted to take a day outside. They robbed me first though."

Lily laughed at that and the two began talking. They talked and laughed for a couple of hours. Koromon was forced to stand as perfectly still as possible the entire time. It was then that Koromon smelt something that terrified him. The digimon's eyes grew wide his ears pricked up as the Digital Fog surrounded the apartment.

Lily stopped talking mid sentence and looked outside. "Oh, that's odd. Why's it so foggy? It was really sunny just a moment ago." There was a hint of fear in her voice.

Brian stood up. Lily made a move to do the same but Brian placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Stay here. I'll be right back." He walked over to the sliding glass door and opened it up. He took a couple of steps outside onto the balcony. The Digital Fog was really thick. He couldn't see very far past the railing. He could, however, hear the creaking and bending of metal. The eerie sound was hollow and reverberated off of the walls.

"Brian, what's going on?" Lily asked, frightened.

Brian peered into the fog, leaning over the railing and squinting in an attempt to get a better look. He could just barely make out the shape of something out there. The sound of creaking metal grew louder and louder as a head appeared in the Fog. "What is that-?"

Then a slow, deep, emotionless voice said, "Giga Cannon." Then, two bright red lights appeared above the head shape, one to the left, and one over the right shoulder. The sound of a weapon charging energy reached Brian's ears.

"Uh-oh," Brian said as he jumped backwards and dove to the ground. Just as he hit, the was a a thunderous blast of red energy that tore the roof off of the apartment building. Lily hit the ground, too, and debris was flown everywhere. Chunks of wood and drywall rained down on top of Brian as he shielded his head. "Koromon!" Brian yelled. "Digivolve!"

"Gotcha! Koromon, digivolve to- Agumon! Agumon, digivolve to- Greymon!" The hulking mass of Greymon filled the room as he rose up out of the opening in the ceiling. Greymon climbed out of the wreckage and down to the street. The large digimon turned to face the enemy. "Let's dance, cowboy."

Machinedramon turned his head in Greymon's direction and said in a lifeless, mechanical voice, "Target acquired. System launch." Machinedramon turned to face Greymon as the two large Psycho Blasters mounted to his back began to charge.

"Nova Blast!" Greymon yelled and a huge ball of fire leaped from his mouth and rushed towards Machinedramon. The metal digimon lowered his head and took the full blast. The great fire ball struck Machinedramon right in the head and dissipated against the Chrome Digizoid covering.

Machinedramon raised his head again and said, "Giga Cannon." The cannons on his back were now fully charged and fired the huge amount of energy at Greymon. Both shots struck Greymon in the chest and made him fly backwards up the street. The blast was so powerful that Greymon was rolled backwards for several hundred feet, destroying cars and pavement along the way. He finally stopped when he hit the side of a building, which crumbled down on top of him.

Greymon pulled the rubble off of him and he climbed out of the pile, spilling bricks and dust everywhere. He was outside of the Fog now and the people around him were running away and screaming. People evacuated the nearby buildings and fled either on foot or in cars. Everybody was running and screaming. The scene was total chaos.

Machinedramon slowly began to walk in the direction that Greymon flew out of the Fog. One foot in front of the other leaving behind huge craters where the weight of his huge, metal feet landed. Brian was standing now, holding his digivice in his hand. Lily was sitting on the ground behind him lookign terrified.

"Brian! Tell me what's going on!" Lily cried.

"You want to know what's happening?" Brian turned to her. "We are being attacked by a very powerful creature called a digimon and it's killing my best friend. I have to go help him." Brian ran over to where the balcony used to be and jumped down. When he landed his mighty twin bladed battle axe appeared in his hand. He placed his digivice in the slot between the blades and the Crest of Courage on the back began to glow bright orange. Brian charged in the direction that Machinedramon was heading and towards Greymon. He kept running until he caught up with Machinedramon. Being careful to not get stepped on, he ran underneath the monster, hacking and slashing at everything he could reach. Even though his blade was made of Chrome Digizoid he simply wasnot strong enough to put a scratch in Machinedramon's armour. He kept running and beat the digimon out of the fog and reached Greymon, who was gray with dust and rubble, but was at least now standing, waiting for the battle. "Greymon!"

"Brian!" Greymon shouted back. "What are you doing over here? It's too dangerous! Go back!"

"I've proven that I can fight by your side! I will stand with you!"

Greymon nodded and the two of them turned to face Machinedramon, who had just exited the Digital Fog a football field away.

Hope and Duane were walking on the sidewalk next to a busy street. People were bustling towards the beach on this warm day and the traffic was jammed. People riding bikes swerved in and out of people and cars, trying to get there without hurting anybody. "You know what, Duane?" Hope was saying. "It's going to be really hard to keep the secret that were digidestined with other people constantly hanging out at our safehouse! I can't work under these conditions."

"Calm down, Hope." Duane told her calmly. "Brian just made a new friend is all. There's no reason why he can't still have a social life and a digital life. Nerds do that a lot, you know. Live two lives I mean."

"But nerds don't have a second life with the potential to get somebody killed!" Hope retorted.

"True," Duane laughed. "But still, this is Brian's home. You can't ask him to hold back his life. It's easier for us because we don't have a life in this city. My life is back in Oregon and yours is in Minnesota. If we were sent to go protect one of those places, then there would be a likelihood of us continuing our lives as well."

"Yeah I guess." Hope conceded.

Just then, their digivices began to beep. They unclipped the digivices from their belts and saw that they had picked up a signal. "It's coming from the beach somewhere," Duane noticed.

"What do you think it is?" Hope asked.

"Only one way to find out. C'mon!" Duane and Hope ran off in the direction of the signal, their digimon bouncing around in their backpacks.

"Do you guys have to be so rough?" Elecmon asked Duane from the slightly open main pocket.

"Sorry, Elecmon!" Duane said, not slowing down. "But this could be important!" They continued on their way across the sand, rushing past people of all ages, barely noticing their angry faces looking at the two hooligans. Duane stopped to check his digivice, Hope skidded to a stop right behind him. "It's got to be around here somewhere!" he exclaimed.

The two of them stood there, looking for anything that would produce the strange signal. "There! Look over there!" Hope yelled in Duane's ear.

"What? Where?"

"There! Past the big rainbow umbrella! Theres a girl there eating a sandwich!"

"Hope, we have money to buy food. We don't have to mooch."

"What? No! Look at what's next to her!"

It was then that Duane saw it. Next to the girl was a rabbit building a sand castle. It was a creature so unusual and strange that it just had to be a digimon. "Do you think that girl is digidestined?"

The girl noticed something to her other side and reached into a bag. From inside, she pulled out a small white device with a blinking screen. "That's a digivice!" Hope exclaimed. "She has to be digidestined!"

"Hold on," Duane said squinting. "I think I know her! Stina! Stina! Over here!" he yelled.

The girl looked around until she saw Duane waving at her. Duane then ran over to her quickly. "Oh my goodness!" the girl said when Duane reached her. "Duane! I can't believe it's you! What are you doing here?"

"I'm... umm... on vacation." he told her.

"Duane," Hope said when she caught up, "We can tell her. She's one of us, you know."

"Oh right," Duane gave a weak chuckle. The pointed to Lunamon near his feet. "This is a digimon, isn't it?"

"Duane," Christina was shocked, "How did you know that?"

"I have one too!" He pulled off his backpack and unzipped it, showing her the digimon inside. "This is Elecmon. Elecmon, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine. This is Stina."

"How exactly do you two know each other?" Hope asked.

"Duane and I used to go to school together in Oregon. Then I moved to Nevada with my family. That's where I met Lunamon."

"Pleasure to meet you," the little rabbit said, extending her hand. Gatomon and Elecmon jumped out of the bags and both shook the digimon's hand.

"I'm Elecmon!"

"And my name is Gatomon!"

"Hi, I'm Lunamon."

"Oh, I almost forgot, Stina. This here is Hope." Duane said. "I met her in the Digital World along with a guy named Brian. They've become really good friends of mine."

"The... Digital World?" Christina looked puzzled. "What's that?"

"You don't know?" Hope was surprised.

Christina shook her head no.

"That's odd." Duane said. "I thought that all digidestined went there."

"It's the world where digimon come from." Hope told her. "It's sort of parallel to our world, but time moves quicker there. Months can pass in the digital world in one day here in the Real World."

"I was trapped there for I don't know how long." Duane said. "It was awhile though. But it probably only took you the time to eat breakfast."

"Every digidestined we've met has been there." Hope said. "Come to think of it, you're the only one we didn't meet there."

"So I'm digidestined?" Christina said. "Because I have a digimon and a digivice?"

"That about sums it up." Duane agreed.

"How many other digidestined have you met?"

"Just one other, besides Brian I mean." Hope said. "His name is Billy, and if you see him, you shouldn't stick around."

"Yeah he's really mean and melodramatic." Duane laughed.

"You know it really isn't nice to talk about people behind their back." an eerily familiar voice said from behind Duane and Hope.

"Well, speak of the devil." Hope said as she turned around to face Billy. He was standing next to two other boys. All three had digimon with them. DemiDevimon was perched on his master's shoulder. The boy to his right was tall, with long, blonde hair was was wearing a white buttoned shirt with a black tie. Hovering next to him was a small flaming digimon. On Billy's other side stood Brian's brother, Peter. Next to him stood a furry dinosaur with small black wings and a look of curiosity on its face.

"Peter?" Hope exclaimed.

"Tyler?" Chrsitina and Duane exclaimed together.

Hope looked at her friends. "You know that boy with the tie?"

"I go to school with him. He's my best friend." Duane told her.

"He's my boyfriend." Christina was absolutely shocked at Tyler's appearance. Something about her boyfriend seemed off. Something in his eyes wasn't right. Duane and Hope noticed the change as well in Peter. It was as if their eyes were darker.

"Christina... Duane..." Tyler said quietly. "Come with me. Let's go back to the Digital World. We can all be safe there! I can protect the two of you with my strength! Billy, Peter, and I are the strongest Tamers in the world! We will keep you safe."

"No," Christina said. She took a step back and continued, "You've changed, Tyler. There's somethign different about you and I don't like it. Whatever it is, it scares me."

"So be it," Billy told her. "You have sealed your own fate and it is death. Prepare for battle!" The three boys retrieved their digivices, Billy's a dark black, and they stood in battle positions as their screens glowed. Some people nearby began to stare at them, trying to understand what was going on.

"C'mon, Shuey," Duane said to Tyler. "We don't have to fight. Join us! We're the good guys!"

"Evil is perceived." Peter said. "It's an illusion made up in your heads. Dorumon! Digivolve!"

The furry dinosaur with wings spoke, "Dorumon, digivolve to-!"

"DemiDevimon, digivolve to-!"

"DemiMeramon, digivolve to-!

The three digimon were engulfed in light and from inside the light the digimon transformed into their champion levels.

"Dorugamon!" cried a larger version of Dorumon. He had larger wings and darker fur.

Where DemiDevimon once floated, there now stood a large and dark Devimon.

"Meramon!" said Tyler's partner as the flaming humanoid emerged from his light cocoon.

The three champion level digimon appeared behind their Tamers, ready to attack. The curious onlookers became terrified and began to flee the beach. Soon the scene was that of complete chaos as people ran around them in all different directions, just trying to leave the area that would soon become a battle. "The way I see it," Billy began, "you have two options. One is that you can surrender and join us. The second is that you can fight and lose and become slaves."

Hope, Duane, and Christina pulled out their digivices and stood in battle stances.

"I see you've opted for the door number two." Billy noticed. "Very well then. Devimon, attack!"

Hope's DigiBlade appeared in her hand and the Crest of Light began to glow on the back of her digivice inlaid into the pommel. "Gatomon, digivolve to-!

"Elecmon digivolve to-!"

In front of Hope and Duane now stood the forms of Angewomon and Leomon. Devimon lunged at Angewomon, his huge red claws gripping her around the waist and hefting her up into the air. Leomon drew his sword and jumped towards Dorugamon, who used his terrifying claws to slash at Leomon's arms and chest.

"Ooh that was cool!" Christina admired the digivolutions. "How do I do that?"

"You've never digivolved before?" Duane turned to her. "This is your first fight? Christina!"

"Use the digivice!" Hope yelled as she rushed at Billy with her sword. She brought her short sword up over her head and brought it down on top of Billy. Billy calmly but quickly raised his hand and his broadsword appeared just in time to block the attack.

"I do hope that you will prove to be a challenge in melee battle, baby." Billy said to her as he parried her attack.

"Don't you call me that!" Hope yelled at him and brought her sword in an upward slash. Billy blocked and parried again with ease. He hadn't even moved his feet yet.

"You can do better than that, baby. I know you can."

Christina held her digivice in her hand and was pressing buttons. Lunamon stood by her side and tugged at her skirt, saying, "C'mon, Stina. I want to help too!"

Just then Meramon took a step in front of Christina with Tyler standing by his partner's side. "You can still come with us, Stina. We won't hurt you if you join us. I miss you, you know. Do you miss me?"

"Yeah..." she replied sadly.

"Maybe she does, but I won't miss!" Lunamon told him. "Tear Shot!" She concentrated her power into the antenna on her forehead and from it shot a ball of water, which hit Meramon and knocked him backwards a few steps.

Meramon quickly recovered and yelled, "Burning Fist!" He threw his fist out in front of him and a fireball shot from it. Lunamon dodged the attack which struck right in front of Christina's feet. The sand where the fire had hit turned to smoking black glass.

"You almost hit Stina!" Lunamon cried. Christina's digivice began to glow and Lunamon began to feel power surging through herself. "Right! Let's do this! Lunamon, digivolve to-!" The rabbit digimon sprang up into the air and was swallowed by the light of digivolution. She grew taller, armour covered her body, gloves formed on her hands, and she could feel her legs grow more powerful. "Lekismon!" she cried as she fell back to the ground, now ready to fight. "Tear Arrow!" Lekismon drew an arrow of ice from behind her and shot it at Meramon. The flaming digimon was struck in the heart and toppled over backwards. Leomon, struggling to tear Dorugamon off of him, tripped over the fallen Meramon.

Dorugamon was thrown up into the air and intercepted the Celestial Arrow that Angewomon had sent flying towards Devimon. Dorugamon fell back down to earth and landed on top of Lekismon, who collapsed underneath the weight. Pinning Lekismon down, Dorugamon opened his mouth and yelled, "Power Metal!" several metal orbs flew from his open mouth and struck Lekismon in the face.

"Lekismon!" Christina called in concern.

Hope and Billy were battling with their swords. Billy was gaining the ground and forcing Hope backwards. "Don't worry about her!" Hope called to Christina. "Digimon are tough!"

Duane swung his halberd in Peter's direction but it weas smacked away by his opponents spear. Peter stabbed at Duane, who side stepped to the left and was almost hit by Meramon's Burning Fist attack. Meanwhile, above the confusion of the battle, Devimon and Angewomon were fighting their own battle. Angewomon charged at Devimon and struck him with her foot. The silent digimon didn't make any so und when her boot made contact with his side. He instead grinned and with a long arm, he reached around and grabbed her hair and pulled her in front of him. Devimon started kicking her in the torso with lightning quick movements.

Leomon looked up to notice Angewomon's distress. He pushed Meramon away from him with a Fist of the Beast King attack at his enemies face. Meramon flew up into the air and hit the ground on his back. Leomon leaped up into the air and was just barely able to grab Devimon's leg and pull him down to earth. The demon digimon released Angewomon and hit the ground. Leomon pointed his sword down below him as he fell right above Devimon. The evil digimon quickly rolled over to avoid the sword point and countered with a hand swipe to the back of Leomon's head. The lion digimon tumbled over forwards and lost his sword. Angewomon stayed flying overhead and began shooting Celestial Arrows at the enemy digimon.

Hope brought her sword above her head and brought it back down above Billy, who brought up his sword to defend the attack. Billy pushed the sword off of his own and Hope stumbled backwards. She dropped her sword and it was now out of reach. Billy held his broadsword to Hope's throat.

Devimon jumped back into the air behind Angewomon and kneed her in the back. She cried out in pain and Devimon restrained her arms behind her. She struggled but could not break free. Duane swung his halberd downward at Peter, but he dodged it. As the Blade became lodged in the sand, Peter put his foot on in and pinned it down. Duane tried to pull it up but Peter pushed it down and out of Duane's hands. Peter also placed the point of his spear against Duane's throat and forced him down on his knees.

Lekismon was jumping around firing arrows of ice at Meramon and Dorugamon. Meramon got a good hit on Lekismon with a fireball and she hit the ground where Dorugamon pounced on her back and held her there. Meramon grabbed Leomon by the mane as he laid there on the ground and picked him up. Christina could not fight and was easily held in place by Tyler.

With everybody secured and held, Billy began to speak. "I will give you one last chance to surrender to us." He knelt down to Hope and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, pulling her up. "Do you accept or decline?"

Hope spit in his face. "We will never surrender!"

"Then you have decided you fate."

Dobermon's ears pricked up. "Gabbie," he said to her. "Digital Fog."

"You sure?" she asked as she stood up in the dusty clubhouse.

"Yes. I smell a digimon." Dobermon stood up and rushed out the door. Gabbie followed him outside and watched the air as the Fog grew thicker. Soon she could barely see anything.

The air felt different. It sort of tickled her skin and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She could hear the creaking of metal and the sound of large, heavy feet hitting the pavement. She and Dobermon silently crept out of the alley where they slept. Suddenly, she heard a thunderous blast that made her and Dobermon hit the ground. Debris from the apartment that Machinedramon destroyed fell down upont them. Frozen in fear, all Gabbie could do was watched as the foggy form of Greymon attacked the mega level and was attacked in return. She watched as the dinosaur was flung up and out of the Fog and as Machinedramon and a boy chased after him.

"C'mon, Dobermon." Gabbie whispered, standing herself up again. "Let's go help him!"

Dobermon nodded and the two of them ran after Machinedramon and the boy they saw earlier.

Brian and Greymon stood there as Machinedramon inched closer. Each step he took left another crater behind. "Nova Blast!" Greymon yelled, firing a large fireball at Machinedramon. The attack hit the monster right in the chest, but it just kept on coming as if nothing happened at all.

Machinedramon stopped. He surveyed the area in front of him, scanning for the hostile tagets. Once he was locked on, Machinedramon began to charge his Psycho Blasters. "Okay," Brian said. "Don't move until the count of three."

"Are we going on three or after three?" Greymon asked, not taking his eyes off of Machinedramon.

"What kind of question is that?" Brian retorted, also keeping his eyes on the other digimon. "We go on three. We always go on three. I don't even know why you'd wait until after three."

The weapons were building up power still. Energy seemed to flow out of the two huge cannons in mists. "It's a very important thing to get out of the way, Brian." Greymon told him. "Some people go after three."

"That's ridiculous. Okay, one..." There was a thunderous boom that shook the earth. "Three!" Brian yelled. The two of them jumped to opposite sides, hitting the ground hard. The Giga Cannon attack struck the ground right where they had previously been standing and completely mangled the street in that spot.

"There wasn't even a two!" Greymon yelled back at Brian after hitting.

"Forget about the two! Get up and charge!"

Greymon stood back up and charged at Machinedramon. The machine digimon took a step forward and roared at Greymon, but the dinosaur did not waver his path. Gremon kept going straight and true towards his target. He lowered his head in preperation to headbutt the enemy.

Machinedramon, however, was not impressed. With the precision that only a machine could muster, he grabbed Greymon by the neck and lifted him up into the air. Machinedramon slammed Greymon against the wall of a building. Th mechanical monster began to charge the two large cannons again and directed them at Greymon. Brian picked up his DigiBlade and rushed to Machinedramon. "Greymon! I'm coming!" Machinedramon swung his free arm at Brian and smashed it into him. Brian flew up into the sky and hit the ground very hard several yards away.

It was then that the forms of Gabbie and Dobermon appeared from the Fog. Dobermon leaped over Brian and then ran to Machinedramon. He jumped onto the machine digimon's back and began tearing at everything that looked important. Dobermon bit into the cords running from Machinedramon's arms to the cannons. Electricity flowed freely from them but it didn't stop Dobermon, who simply kept on tearing until they were completely severed. Cut off from their power source, the Psycho Blasters powered down and fell silent and motionless.

Machinedramon machanically reached upwards with his free hand and grabbed Dobermon. The dog digimon was thrown back to where Gabbie stood next to Brian, who was still laying on the ground. Gabbie dropped down to the ground next to Dobermon. "How'd I do, Gabbie?" the digimon asked weakly.

She smiled at him and said, "You did good. You did very good."

It was then that the form of Lily also appeared from the Fog. She knelt down beside Brian and held his hand. Her hands were warm to touch. He liked the feeling very much. Machinedramon removed Greymon from the wall and tossed him in the direction of Dobermon and the two Tamers. "Duck!" Brian called as he flattened himself out as much as he could. Dobermon, Gabbie, and Lily hunkered down as well. Greymon hit the ground in front of them and then bounced over and landed behind them. Machinedramon turned around to face them. He roared as one of his claws spun around, opening and closing. He then charged at them. This time he was quick, and he was too close for them to move anywhere. Machinedramon brought his foot high over their heads and stomped down.

Brian let go of Lily's hand and stood up, leaving his DigiBlade on the ground and his hands met the claws on Machinedramon's feet. Brian used every ounce of strength he had to hold up that foot. "Go!" he said to Gabbie and Dobermon. "You saved my partner's life. I'm repaying the debt! Go!" The digivice at Brian's feet began to vibrate. The screen glowed a bright orange color and showed the Crest of Courage. There was a flash of light and the next thing Brian knew, Machinedramon's foot was being lifted off of him. He wiped the sweat out of his eyes and saw MetalGreymon next to him, holding Machinedramon's foot.

"Brian," MetalGreymon's voice boomed. Brian had almost forgotten how big the metal-clad dragon was. "Your courage allowed me to digivolve. Thank you." MetalGreymon gave a strong heave and Machinedramon toppled over onto his back. MetalGreymon flew up and landed on top of the great machine, pinning it to the ground. MetalGreymon roared at Machinedramon and then yelled, "Giga Blast!" MetalGreymon's chest plates opened up and the two nukes flew out towards his enemy. Machinedramon dissapeared and the missled struck only the ground.

"Where'd he go?" Brian demanded.

"I don't know," MetalGreymon replied. "He wasn't destroyed, I know that much."

A voice sounded from atop a nearby building. "I sent him back to the Digital World." Daemon informed them. "Next time, you will not be so lucky. Next time you will be destroyed."

"Lucky?" MetalGreymon called back. "I could have sworn that I was about to waste him!"

"That's what I saw, too. Who are you anyway?" Brian chided.

"Why you insolent pup! My name is Daemon, and I will be your bane!" The cloaked figure replied. "I will kill you, someday. But first you might want to go save your friends down at the beach." He then disappeared in a swirl of blackness.

"C'mon, MetalGreymon," Brian said. "Let's go." Brian began to climb up onto his partner's huge head. He was followed by Gabbie, Dobermon, and Lily.

"Is this thing safe, Brian?" Lily asked him as she finally made it to the top.

"Of course he's safe. He's my best friend. Just stay away from the edges." Brian was standing at MetalGreymon's nose and kept his balance by holding one arm to the giant nose horn.

MetalGreymon rose up into the air and flew in the direction of the beach. People down below looked up at the giant dragon in the sky. Many were pointing, some took pictures, most just stood there in shock and awe. Brian felt the wind rushing through his hair and how the air made his clothes billow around him. He never felt better than when he was flying with MetalGreymon.

Hope looked up into the sky behind Billy. There was something very large flying very fast in their direction. "Look behind you!" she told the boy who was holding a sword to her neck.

"Do you really think I'm going to fall for that one?" Billy asked disgustedly.

"No," Tyler told him, now seeing what Hope saw. "I really think you should look at this."

Billy turned around and saw it too. "Brian," he said under his breath. "Devimon! Digivolve!" Billy's digivice glowed, but nothing happened. "What's going on?" He demanded. "Why aren't you digivolving?"

Devimon shrugged.

"What about you two?" Billy asked Tyler and Peter. Their digivices glowed at their command, but their digimon did not digivolve. "Fine. Then we're just going to have to fight him as champions. Go, Devimon! Kill him!"

Devimon let go of Angewomon, who tumbled to the ground, and he flew towards MetalGreymon.

From the metal head of MetalGreymon, Dobermon yelled, "Black Beam!" and a beam of dark energy shot out of his mouth and struck Devimon in the chest. The digimon dedigivolved and fell back to the ground. When he hit, he left a small crater in the sand.

Billy growled his displeasure. MetalGreymon landed next to where the battle had taken place and roared as everybody jumped off. "Well don't just stand there gawking!" Billy ordered, "Get him!"

Dorugamon and Meramon charged at MetalGreymon. The large dragon's chest plates opened up again and he yelled, "Giga Blast!' they missels flew out and each one hit a target. The two digimon were reduced to weakened rookie levels and the surrounding sand was glassed.

Billy smirked, "Well done, Brian. Well done. We will leave now. C'mon Peter, Tyler. Grab your digimon and let's go." The three boys and their digimon were all digitized and returned back to the Digital World.

"You kids are doing really good, you know," a wizened old voice said. Everybody stood up and turned to look at the face of the speaker.

"Gennai!" Hope exclaimed. She ran over and hugged him. When she let go, he smiled back at her. All of the digimon dedigivolved, exhausted from the day's battles. Brian walked over to Gennai carrying Koromon in his arms. Gabbie and Dobermon walked next to Brian and Lily stood behind Brian, trying to stay hidden as best as she could.

"Brian, Hope, Duane, Christina, and Gabbie," Gennai began. "You are the chosen ones. Five of the eight destined to lead the Digital World back to peace and prosperity. You still have a long road to travel until you are strong enough defeat the evil that is spreading throughout these worlds, though. Unfortunately, I will have to split you up for a little while. Gabbie and Christina need to go to the Digital World and claim the power of their DigiBlades. Unfortunately, I only have the power to send the two of them and one other person. That other person will be Brian. He spent the longest time wandering the Digital Wastes. He knows how to handle the DW in ways that the rest of you could not. The other two, Duane and Hope, will have to wait here. To the two of you, their journey may seem like merely a few minutes, if even that. But to the other three, the journey could be weeks, even months."

"So," Brian piped in. "You want me to trek through the Digital Wastes again with two inexperienced Tamers who I barely know in order to find them some DigiBlades and essentially teach them what it means to be a Tamer?"

"That about sums it up, yes." Gennai replied happily.

"I'm out." Brian told him. "I don't want to go back to the Digital Wastes. I spent way too much time there as it is."

"This is the only way." Gennai said. "It has to be you. You are the only one with the courage to lead them properly. Unless you think the choosers got it wrong this time? Did your courage not allow you to hold up Machinedramon's foot long enough for Greymon to digivolve? Or was it not your courage that was able to reunite you to your friends and defeat LadyDevimon back in the Digital World? It was courage that allowed you to summmon that DigiBlade you cherish so much. And it's courage that holds you to your friend Koromon there. Show once again that you are courageous and go back to the Digital World. Lead those who cannot lead themselves."

Brian wanted to decline. He did not want to go back to the Digital World. But Gennai filled him with a sense of duty. Brian has never shied away from duty and he wasn't about to now. "Alright. I'll go. Give me time to go back to my apartment and gather somethings before I leave."

Gennai nodded and Brian carried Koromon back home, Lily walking by his side. Brian reached the wreckage of his house and began to pack three bags. He filled them with food and other necessities. Everything he could think of that would be necessary he put in the bags. When he was all packed, he looked at Lily and said, "To you it will seem like I've only been gone for a few minutes. To me though, I will be gone for a long time. I will regret it later if I don't do this now, so," he hesitated, and then he kissed her, full on the mouth. When he pulled away, he gave her one last look and turned around. "Okay, Gennai. I know you can hear me. I'm ready to go now."

At that, Brian was digitized and transported to the Digital World.


	27. Redigi

Brian opened his eyes and saw a sight that he had hoped to never see again. The Wastes stretched out before him as the sun beat down upon his skin. The air was dry and the dust clogged his lungs. He knew that he wouldn't be comfortable for the next few weeks. He turned around to see who all was nearby. Agumon stood by his side, Gabbie and Christina a few feet away with Dobermon and Lunamon standing next to them. Christina was shielding her eyes from the sun and Gabbie leaned against Dobermon.

"Alright," Brian tossed each of the girls a backpack filled with supplies. "Each of you will be responsible for one of these. We will have to ration our food and use every resource to its fullest. I am not here to babysit. In some cases you may find yourselves on your own. There is always the chance of seperation and I don't count on us staying together the entire time. Have either of you been to the Digital World before?"

Christina shook her head no but Gabbie said, "I have."

"Tell me about it." Brian told her.

"I was running from digimon who were attacking me," Gabbie began, "The Digital Fog came down on top of Dobermon and I and then we just found ourselves here. Right after that we met a boy here. The one who attacked the others at the beach before we showed up."

"Billy," Brian and Agumon said acidly to each other.

Gabbie nodded and continued, "He seemed alright at first. He told me about you actually. And the girl, Hope, and that other boy, Duane. He told me that you guys were evil and that it was you who gave him the scar on his face. I believed him and then I helped him take control of a fortress belonging to some digimon named Daemon."

"That cloaked digimon who made Machinedramon attack us right?" Brian asked.

"Yep, that's the one. Anyway during the battle, Daemon stabbed me in the stomach with a sword and Billy tried to save me. His digimon did something weird at that moment."

"What do you mean 'weird'? Christina asked?

"It changed somehow."

"Digimon do that," Brian told her. "It's called digivolving."

"No this was different." Gabbie said. "One moment it was this really evil looking creature called NeoDevimon, and the next he was completely angelic. MagnaAngemon is what he called himself. When that happened, Daemon looked both shocked and scared. He just left the fortress and let Billy have it then."

"Hey, Brian," Agumon pulled on his Tamer's shirt. "Didn't Billy's digimon do something like that back at LadyDevimon's castle, too?"

"Yeah!" he suddenly remembered. "Now that I think of it, when he told DemiDevimon to digivolve and save Hope, he digivolved into Angemon instead of Devimon."

"So, DemiDevimon has two patterns of digivolution?" Agumon said puzzled.

"It seems like that." Brian said. "But he was really shocked when it happened. I don't think he knew about it."

"He was really shocked when it happened at Daemon's fortress too." Gabbie told them.

"So he doesn't know how to control it either." Brian reasoned. "Go on with your story, Gabbie."

"Right. Well, after Daemon ran away, Billy through me into the digiport and told me to look for you. He admited to his lies and said that you could help me. When I was back in the Human world, the wound was gone and I started searching for you guys. I was staying in a dusty old clubhouse in an alleyway near where Machinedramon came out of the Fog."

"In an old... clubhouse... near my aprtment building..." Brian was suddenly enlightened. "You have been sleeping right next to my house in a clubhouse that I built when I was a kid! Oh wow, that's crazy! There's been a digidestined living just feet away from me for days. I can't wait to tell Hope and Duane! So what about you, Christina? Since we're sharing stories, you might as well tell us yours."

"I used to live in Oregon where I knew Duane and Tyler."

"Who's Tyler?" Brian asked.

"He's one of the boy's that attacked me, Hope, and Duane. He's also my boyfriend." Christina had a really sad look on her face. It still pained her to think that Tyler would be so harsh to her. "I moved away to Nevada. We tried to make the long distance thing work. It was going really well too. Nevada is where I met Lunamon. She and the digivice just came out of the computer one day and we've been good friends ever since. Anyway, I came to San Diego with my family on vacation. That's when who else but Duane and that girl, Hope, come runnign down the beach followed by Tyler, Billy, and that other boy."

"Peter." Brian said.

"Huh?" the girls replied.

"His name is Peter and he is my brother. He's done something to him. Billy, I mean. When I find him, I'm going to make him pay for what he's done."

"Well, I'm glad that you're all acquainted now!" The old voice of Gennai came to their ears from behind Brian.

"Not you again," Brian cried as he turned around to face the old man.

"It's good to see you again too!" Gennai replied happily. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you good luck and to give you a good direction to start looking in. I've been getting odd reports from out back east. I don't know what it is but it it might be a DigiBlade. At any rate it's the job of the digidestined to investigate the unusual in the Digital World."

"Everything is unusual in the Digital World." Brian told him.

"Then you haven't any time to waste! Get going now!"

"Wait, Gennai!" Christina said. "Back at the beach, Billy couldn't digivolve like the others could. Why not?"

"I have been protecting you kids." He replied. "I blocked the power of their DigiBlades. I won't always be able to do that though. I'm becoming an old man and my power is weakening. Anyway, good luck to you three! Off you go now!" Gennai then disappeared.

"Well, he sure is a useful old man, isn't he?" Brian said sarcastically. "C'mon, let's just go east like the old coot suggested. Maybe he is on to something."

Just then, a strong gust of wind picked up, slinging dust against Brian's back. The wind began to blow harder and faster, making their clothes swirl around their wearers and the dust and dirt lift up into the air. "What's happening?" Christina asked, concerned.

Brian turned around to see where the wind was coming from. Behind him was a huge wall of dust and sand. He pulled his goggles down over his eyes and said, "This isn't good. Sand storm!"

"Uh-oh," Agumon added. He and Brian began to run in the opposite direction.

"Gabbie," Dobermon said to his Tamer, "I think it would be wise if we followed suit."

Gabbie starred at the sand storm as it traveled closer and closer to them and nodded, both her and Christina slightly afraid. Lunamon looked up to her Tamer and said, "I'm going to agree with dog breath. Let's beat it!" Lunamon jumped up into Christina's arms and everybody began to run in the direction that Brian and Agumon ran off in. The group of Tamers and digimon moved as fast as their legs could take them, except for Dobermon who preffered to stay close to Gabbie than run at full speed.

The dust storm was gaining ground on them, licking at the heels of the girl's feet. Brian and Agumon were already several yards ahead and had no idea how close the wall of death and doom was to their companions. The sand was whipped up into the air around everybody, slashing into the face and covering the clothes. Behind the girls and their digimon the main body of the storm was falling on itself in huge waves. They kept running until Christina was swallowed by the sand storm, and then Gabbie and Dobermon.

Agumon looke dover his shoulder and skidded to a stop when he could not see the others. Brian noticed his partner stop and quite running too. "What are you doing, Agumon?"

"They're trapped in the sand storm!" he yelled back. The sand stung his face as the wind began to catch up. Agumon looked back towards the wall of sand, "We have to go back for them!"

Brian nodded and the two charged head first into the sand wall, screaming the names of their missing companions. "We're over here!" They heard them call back. It was hard to hear their voices over the wind. The two ran in the direction that Gabbie and Christina were yelling from. As soon as their forms came into veiw through the thick sand in the air, the wind stopped. The dust fell back down to the gound and the skies were all of a sudden clear again.

Brian and Agumon stopped dead in their tracks, completely dumbfounded about the sand storm disappearing. "What happened?" He heard Gabbie ask.

The boy turned his head to look at the others. They were huddled together on the ground, the digimon had been attempting to protect them from the sand and dirt. "I don't know," he told them. "But I don't think that this was just a freak accident."

No sooner than he had finished his sentence, the ground began to rumble and shake. Small pebbles on the ground bounced across the ground. It became it bit hard to stand up, and Agumon fell over on his face. "Now what?" Christina cried.

The rumbling grew louder and louder and then suddenly stopped. Brian spoke, "Well that was a bit anitclimactic." It was then that the ground opened up underneath him and a digimon popped out, knocking Brian over onto his back. "Hey!" he cried, now pulling the goggles back ontop of his head. "What's th big idea?"

The digimon that sprung from the ground looked like a prairie dog with long rabbit ears and metal gauntlets that had huge claws on them. Soon, more and more Prairiemon began emerging from the ground. First a few, then many more, then there had to be at least one thousand of them! Christina was looking at one right in the face with large eyes of curiousity. "They're kinda cute!" she exclaimed.

All of the Prairiemon turned in her direction when she spoke. Their eyes glowed red and their faces became more sinister. "Sonic Ear!" a nearby one called, slashing in Christina's direction with it's ears.

Before the attack could land though, Agumon had already jumped in the way. He digivolved and the razor sharp ear struck the brutish Greymon's skull helmet. Leaned over in a position to deflect the attack, Greymon stood upright to his full height and roared into the sky.

"Yeah! Go Greymon!" Brian cheered his friend on. The prairiemon all began to swarm and attack Christina.

"Lunamon, digivolve to-!" The small rabbit began to glow and change shape into her champion form. "Lekismon," the new digimon said. "I just can't get over this digivolving thing! It's so much fun!" she laughed and attacked several prairiemon by leaping up into the air and coming back down hard with a Moon Night Kick.

Meanwhile, Dobermon froze as many as he could with his Gray Noise attack. There were still thousands of them left, though. Brian continuously smacked any prairiemon with his DigiBlade that came too close to him. Alongside him was Greymon, clawing at them in huge arcs with his powerful hands, flingling many of them up into the air. As they swarmed around them, Greymon started lobbing Nova Blasts into the crowd at random.

Gabbie and Christina tried to stay close to their digimon as they did not have any weapons to fight off the prairiemon with. As the small rodent digimon swarmed and clawed and bit at them, the two girls punched and slapped at them. Soon, the inexperienced Tamers were overwhelmed and were brought down to the ground. Brian saw what was happening and tried to fight his way over to them. They Prairiemon were thick, though, and it was difficult. By the time he and Greymon made it to their location, the girls where being dragged off by the prairiemon.

Several jumped onto Brian's back and knocked him over. He dropped his DigiBlade and couldn't find it. The swarm of fur, claws, and glowing red eyes were the only things he could see. Greymon fought and fought to get the swarm off of himself and Brian, but was soon too weak. He dedigivolved back to Agumon and they too were dragged off into the underground.

The tunnels were dark and damp. The humans and their partners were dragged for what seemed to them to be hours, but they couldn't be sure as the darkness and fear was disorienting. The swarm of evil prairiemon wound their way through complicated paths and intricate labrynths. Brian tried to keep track of the way but couldn't keep up with the complexity and the speed at which the prairiemon moved. After a while, the tunnels opened up into a huge cavernous area with a very high ceiling. Above him, Brian could see several cages hanging from the ceiling, many filled with weak digimon.

Brian, Agumon, Christina, Lunamon, Gabbie, and Dobermon where suddenly thrown onto the ground. Brian stood up imediately and began to spit the dirt out of his mouth. In front of them was a huge flight of stairs, with statues of Lilithmon flanking the stairs all the way up. At the very top of the stairs was a medium sized thrown with a boy sitting upon it.

The boy stood up at their arrival. He had long, blonde hair and was wearing a buttoned white shirt and a black tie. He also had a pair of dark colored slacks on and some nice dress shoes. Standing to the left of the throne was the flaming form of Meramon. "Ah!" the boy exclaimed. "Christina! I have been waiting for you! I'm very glad that you showed up. Come with me and we will all eat! You and Lunamon. What do you say?"

Christina stood up and dusted herself off. She was a little taken aback by the request. "T-Tyler?" She stammered. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it is." He replied.

"Ok," Brian said. "I saw you back at the beach. You were with Billy and my brother. You'd better start talking, Johnny Blaze. Why are we here?"

"Johnny Blaze?" Tyler mused. "That's a new one. I kinda like it." He smirked. "As for your other questions, I have brought you here to be destroyed. I have brought Gabbie here to reconsider joining our army. And I brought Stina here to be my wife and forever be happy and safe.

"Not without a fight, you aren't!" Agumon called out, standing battle-ready.

Brian took a step forward into a battle postion also and said, "Yeah! We'll fight to the death!" At that moment a prairiemon walked trance-like up the stairs to Tyler and handed him something. "Hey!" Brian called. "That's my DigiBlade!"

"So it is. And look here, Meramon!" Tyler's digimon took a curious glance at his master's order. "He was kind enough to leave his digivice in it! Billy will be quite pleased. How do you plan to fight without this little gadget, eh?" Brian became angry at Tyler but was forced to back down. He can't fight if he can't digivolve. "That's what I thought," Tyler continued. "Take the digivices from the other two as well."

The trance-like prairiemon walked over to the girls and took their digivices from them. "You won't get away with this," Brian told him.

Tyler smiled even bigger. "I can. And I will. You see, Bill gave this area to me to control. Every digimon in it is under the influence of my Black Splinters! Every digimon here will do whatever I say, when I say it, without question. As a computer program should. Take Brian, Gabbie, and their digimon to their cells. Escort Stina to the nicest room we have here. And please do remember to keep a guard on her. I want her to be comfortable, but I can't risk her getting away from me. She must remain safe." The prairiemon did as they were isntructed.


	28. The Rise of Monitor

Daemon stood atop a very tall cliff and watched as the waves below crashed against the giant rock wall. The waves had always been able to sooth his anger. He could come here to feel calm. Almost at peace. It was at times like this that he could almost abandon his goals of controlling the Digital World, and later the Human World as well.

"No," he said to himself. "It will all be mine." He raised both of his arms and let the energy flow from them. The already gusty wind began to pick up even more. His robes billowed around him and the sky darkened. The waves crashed ever more explosively against the cliff, again and again. Water was a powerful force, Daemon had always knew that. It was slow, it chipped away slowly at its enemy, the rock. But eventually, even the mightiest of rocks fall to the destructive force of water. Daemon was like that. He hung out in the background, always there, watching, waiting, making small strickes to weaken until his enemies crumbled. Soon the time for action was at hand however.

Lighting flashed across the sky as the dark clouds rolled in. The energy flowing from Daemon's hands shot out and struck both sky and ocean. The earth beneath him began to shake. The cliff was not steady and started crumbling at it's base. It wouldn't last long under this sort of power, but Daemon did not fear. He could not feel fear. He was, after all, a perfect being. Lightnig continued to flash and the thunder continued to bang. It sounded like a wat zone.

Soon, the ocean started to boil and bubble. The waters turned from the beautiful blue to a sickly green. The earth continued to shake and the waters boiled. The clouds began to swirl together off in the distance. All of the energy being released by Daemon flowed to the eye of the cloud swirl. As the energy moved its way across the sky and found itself in the center of the storm, it all grouped together in an epic charge. Daemon contained the energy up there for as long as he could before being forced to release it. A giant blast of dark energy shot from the center of the storm and struck the waters below.

A powerful aftershock came and smacked Daemon. The blast would have knocked any other digimon over. The water rose a few inches and the waves kept crashing against the cliff, more and more ferociously. Out in the distance, farther than Daemon could see, a landmass began to rise up out of the waters where the energy had struck.

Daemon began to smile. His smile then opened up into a great big laugh. His cackles traveled for yards as they grew louder and louder in the mighty wind that still blew about. "I did it!" He yelled triumphantly. "I did it! I have raised forth from mighty Neptunemon himself the legendary continent of Monitor! All will fall before me! Your brothers will be revived, Machinedramon!"

Billy stood up. It came all of a sudden. It came in small pulses at first, and then grew into huge shockwaves that he could feel reverberating thorughout his entire body. Something had changed. Something was different. "Daemon..." he whispered to himself. "What did you do?"

"Wassamattah, boss?" DemiDevimon asked curiously.

"Daemon has done something. Something big. I could feel the energy of it. I need to go and find out what he's up to. Let's go."

Billy and DemiDevimon left the thrown room and travelled down the corridor of black stone out into the courtyard. Once outside, he attached reigns to a group of four devidramon and then tied the reigns to a larg carriage. Billy stepped inside of it with DemiDevimon riding on his shoulder.

The powerful devil-dragons pushed off the ground with much force and flapped their black wings until flight was obtained. Billy stared out the window as they flew him to where he sensed the disturbance from. They flew for hours until they reached the ocean. "What is he doing...?" Billy asked himself. "There's nothing out that way. Folder has been reduced to Wastes already... unless there's something between Server and Folder. But what?"

DemeDevimon leaned back and relaxed himself a little, spreading his wings out and stretching them. Letting out a loud yawn he said, "Don't be so tight, boss. I's pro'ly not'ing to fret abou'. He isn't any match for us as a team anywho."

Billy shot his partner a stern look that spoke of death if DemiDevimon decided to speak again. So the little digimon simply fell asleep on the seat. Several hours later, Billy saw what he had been looking for. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Impossible!" Billy yelled, waking DemiDevimon. "That can't be what I think it is!"

"What?" the little digimon asked, startled. "Wass happenin', boss?"

"It's the continent of Monitor! I don't know what it is exactly that Daemon has planned, but it isn't good." It was then that a strange entity inside of Billy's head made him want to touch down on the ground. He looked out the window until he spotted a particular tree inside of the forest below. "Land," he commanded of the devidramon.

"Boss?" DemiDevimon said, worried. "Billy?"

Billy struck his digimon and glared at the small creature. He then pressed a button on the wall in fornt of him and yelled, "I said now!" As he yelled that last word, electricty flowed out of the reigns and into the four devidramon pulling his carriage. They yelped in pain but quickly did as they were told.

Once they had landed, Billy stepped out and looked around the clearing they were in. DemiDevimon perched himself on Billy's shoulder, but his master shook his head. "I want you to stay here."

"Yer sure abou' tha' boss?"

Billy nodded and walked off, leaving his partner alone with the devidramon. The dark boy walked for what seemed like forever, wnadering in and out of the trees, looking for the one that caught his attention earlier. He discovered a dirt path. Stepping out into the middle of it, Billy could see that the path winded like a snake all the way down. Something in the wind blowing around him said that this was the right way to go.

Billy hesitated. Whatever lay ahead scared him a little. "Get a hold of yourself. Nothing is more powerful than I. I have nothing to be afraid of." He started walking. He made his way all the way down the path until he finally found what he was looking for. In front of him was a large clearing and the light was able to shine brilliantly through the canopy. In the center of the clearing was a hige oak tree, although it was brimming with some strange fruit. Billy walked over to the tree and touched his hand to the bark.

"Ah, I see you've heard my call!" a voice from behind him said.

Billy turned around to see the wizened old face of Gennai. "You!" Billy yelled in anger. "You have been screwing with my plans ever since I came to the Digital Worlds! What do you want, old man?"

"I want you to defeat Daemon," Gennai smiled.

"Yeah, well join the club. Im president of wanting to kill him. He took my life from me."

"And you in turn took the lives of the two boys, Tyler and Peter." the old man countered. "How are you any better?"

Caught off guard by the remark, Billy's head dropped. Quickly raising it again, he yelled,"Shut up! You don't know anyting about me! I'm going to kill Daemon and then the Digital World will be mine! I will remake it into something perfect! A place where I can be happy! I won't have to worry about my shattered life anymore!"

"Calm down." Gennai's voice was quiet, but powerful. Billy instantly stopped talking, unable to continue. "I know of your past. I know everything about you. I also know that you must order Tyler to release his captives. The other two will be here soon. Daemon's actions have torn holes in the space-time continueum. They will find a portal here. You will need their help in stopping Daemon's plans. You must all work together before it is too late."

"And why should I? I'm the most powerful being in the Digital World! I don't need anybody's help!"

"You're a boy with a few toys. Get yourself in gear. The creatures I think he plans to revive are very powerful and should not be taken lightly. I know youre smarter than this." Gennai disappeared, leaving Billy to stand there alone and ponder what he had said."

Hope sat down. It had been almost fifteen minutes since They had departed. The police had arrived quite a while ago, forcing her and Duane to leave, holding their battle weakened partners. Duane was starring off into the sky, waiting for something signifying their return.

"Give it a rest Duane," she said.

"Why? They're going to be back any second now."

"And we'll know it the seocnd they do come back." Gatomon was snuggled up against her and Elecmon was at Duane's feet.

Duane turned around to see her. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

Behind him, in the sky, Hope saw the sky flicker. "What the-"

"What? Is is them?" Duane asked, looking back into the sky.

Gatomon and Elecmon looked up and Hope stood, starring into the sky as well. The sky flickered again, this time long enough to make out. Hope couldn't believe what it was. "Is that-?"

"The Digital World?" Duane finished. The Digital World continued to flicker across the sky in blotches, with electricity pouring out of the holes. "But what does it mean?"

"It means that it's time to go! Something is wrong and we have to help them!" Hope and Gatomon cried together. Soon, more portals to the Digital World began openeing. They weren't just in the sky either. The DigiPorts were opening up in the walls of buildings and in the street around them even. "Okay, the next portal that opens up near us, we jump through. Got it?"

Duane nodded, picked up Elecmon, and braced himself for the jump. Hope stood next to him with Gatomon in her arms. Before long, a portal opened up right in front of them and without hesitation or even thinking, they both leaped into it. As their bodies became digital, the felt the sensation of a spider web going through them. They were tumbling and falling through the space in between the realms. 0s and 1s flew around them in complex patterns until their feet finally hit solid ground.

"Is this... are we...?" Duane began.

"Yeah," Hope replied forlornly. "We're back." She looked at her companions. Duane was standing with Gatomon to his left and Leomon to his right. It seemed that being back in the Digital world allowed Elecmon to digivolve.

"Where do we go from here?"

That's a good question, Hope thought to herself. She scratched her head and looked around. The Wastes stretched on for miles in every direction. She could see little puffs of dust out in the distance, dancing across the ground. The sun pounded down on the four of them. With no shade, the heat would just start getting worse throughout the day.

She continued to look around until Leomon had spoken. "Hey! Look at what I found!"

Hope, Gatomon, and Duane all turned their heads to the great man-beast who was kneeling down on the ground, pointing at something at his feet. "It's a set of foot prints."

"Do you think they belonged to the others?" Gatomon questioned.

Leomon nodded. "There appears to have been a dist storm. Most of the prints are gone entirely. I see sneaker tracks leading over in this direction though," the other three allowed their gazes to fall where Leomon was pointing. "And over there, where the tracks stop, the entire ground was disturbed. It's as if a huge group was there. There are scorch marks too. It seems there was a fight and Greymon was involved. After that, the tracks seem to lead off into any of the numerous holes around that location."

"Wow," Duane marvelled. "That was kind of cool."

"Yeah," Leomon agreed. "I guess it was." At that moment, the digivices began to beep and the screens flash. "What is it?"

Hope looked up at Leomon. "It's Brian's digivice. He's activated his locator."

Brian was beginning to ache. He and Gabbie had been cramped into tiny little cages and hung from the ceiling. Nearby in another cage were their partners, Agumon and Dobermon. They had no idea where Tyler had taken Christina and Lunamon. Brian's fingers hurt from trying to work the lock for hours on end. None of them had any idea how long they had been trapped there.

Suddenly, the two cages lurched downward. They Tamers and partners were startled by the quickness of it. After the shock wore off, the chains holding them up began to slowly lower them back down again. When they reached the bottom, a small group of Nanimon opened up the cages and escorted Brian, Gabbie, Agumon, and Dobermon into the throne room where Tyler sat near the fearsome looking Meramon.

One of the Nanimon kicked Brian's legs out from underneath him, and another did the same to Gabbie. "Hey!" Brian yelled at the digimon. "Leave her alone!" The Nanimon back-handed him across the face, leaving a red mark.

"Now, now, Nanimon," Tyler said from atop his throne. "There is no need for hostilities." He clapped his hands and another group of Nanimon were escorting Christina and Lunamon to stand in front of Tyler. The two of them looked clean and well fed, unlike Brian and Gabbie who had been living in terrible conditions. the Nanimon also did not kick her feet out from underneath her. "Ah, Stina!" Tyler greeted her. "I'm so happy you're here! Have you reconsidered my proposal, by any chance?"

She shook her head and said, "No Tyler. I am not going to be a part of your sick and twisted games. Digimon are not just programs, you know. They have feelings too and it isn't right to destroy their world so you and Billy and Peter can rebuild it into your kingdom."

Tyler's smile faded away. "Very well then. Meramon, kill the two humans and their digimon. Spare Christina."

Meramon nodded and stepped in front of the tamers and their digimon. Christina was dragged away from the flames that would soon claim the lives of her friends.

"Roaring Fire!" the flaming digimon yelled, expelling balls of fire form his fists at the Tamers. Brian, Gabbie, and their digimon closed their eyes and awaited the end, but it never came. Instead, the ceiling opened up, letting light through into the caves. Huge chuncks of rock fell down around the throne room. From the giant hole above them leaped GrapLeomon with Duane riding on his back weilding his halberd DigiBlade.

The two of them crashed down onto the ground between Meramon and the digidestined. "Tyler!" Duane called, jumping off of GrapLeomon's back. "Let them go!"

"Duane," Tyler laughed. "You aren't going to fight me. You're too soft. I know you far too well."

"Yeah, and I thought I knew you," Duane retorted. "But the Tyler I knew wouldn't hurt innocent people for any reason. You aren't Tyler. You are some dark thing impersonating Tyler." GrapLeomon roared and the turbines on his wrists and ankles spun rapidly. The white armour glistened in the sunlight shining through the hole he created. "I don't want to fight you, Tyler. you're my best friend. But what you're doing is wrong and somebody needs to teach you that."

Tyler smirked. "Meramon," he ordered his digimon. "Kill."

Meramon instantly leaped into the air, raining fire down ontop of GrapLeomon from his fists. GrapLeomon, however, was much faster than Meramon and had leaped up into the air behind him. Before Meramon could react, the lion digimon had yelled, "Cyclonic Kick!" He began to spin his entire body, releasing roundhouse kick after roundhouse kick upon the flaming digimon. The final blow, a downward kick to the upper back, sent Meramon speeding towards the ground.

Meramon lifted himself up to his feet just as GrapLeomon landed nearby. "Fire Blast!" Meramon called. His entire body burst with huge flames as he charged at his opponent. Without even looking, GrapLeomon moved. He moved so fast that it seemed as though he had just disappeared. He again appeared behind Meramon, this time attacking with The King of Fist attack. The turbines on his arms spun at maximum speed and were plowed into the torso of Meramon. The flaming digimon screamed and was launched forward, smacking agains the wall and leaving a man-shaped crater where he hit.

"I can see this isn't working." Tyler noted. He drew the katana from his side and attached his digivice to the pommel. "Digivolve."

"Meramon, digivolve to-" Engulfed in light, a metal mask formed on his face as chains wrapped themselves around his entire body. Metal boots formed at the base of black, leather pants with flame designs on the legs. His fire then turned blue and he grew in size. "SkullMeramon. Flame Chain!" The digimon grabbed a chain from around his torso and whipped it around GrapLeomon. The chain caught fire and left burn marks in GrapLeomon's armour.

"Let him go, Tyler!" Christina yelled. "Let go of GrapLeomon!"

"Not as long as he stands in our way. SkullMeramon, throw him around a bit."

As instructed, SkullMeramon pulled hard on the chain gripping his opponent and threw him against the wall. GrapLeomon hit hard and grunted at the impact. SkullMeramon pulled agian and tossed him against the other wall. GrapLeomon was ready for it though and managed to catch the wall, gripping to it tightly. He jumped away from the wall and grabbed the chain around his torso, lifting SkullMeramon into flight. SkullMeramon hit the ceiling and both digimon reached the ground at the same time.

With the chain now loose, GrapLeomon was able to escape its burn. Just GrapLeomon closed in for close combat attacks, Hope and Gatomon came into the room from a passegeway and yelled, "Brian! Christina! Gabbie! Catch!" She then threw three small objects into the air which were each caught by one of the three. In Brian's hand now lay the digivice that Tyler had confiscated from him.

"Alright, Tyler," Brian said as he lifted his digivice. "Now its time. Agumon! Digivolve!"

The little dinosaur near him cried, "Agumon, digivolve to-! Greymon!"

"Lunamon, digivolve to-! Lekismon!"

With GrapLeomon, Greymon, Lekismon, and Gatomon all turned towards SkullMeramon and Tyler, Brian said, "Its time to give up Tyler. We will be leaving now."

"Very well." The blonde boy replied. "I can see when I have lost. So be it. Leave."

With one last look at Tyler, they all left the room to continue on their journey. Tyler looked down at his digivice and brought up an e-mail. It read:

-tyler,

the others are here. let the ones you have go. they have things they have to do. make it convincing.

activate a distress beacon on brians digivice. they will come to get him.

-billy


	29. Pirates of the Digital Keys

"Heave, you scallywags! I said heave!" a human-like digimon said to his minions. He was wearing a red sailor's coat with a matching captain's hat. He was angrily waving the silver hook on his right hand at the six kamemon who were lugging huge chests out of a cave across the beach. The kamemon looked like green turtles wearing commando helmets. They had the track ball of a computer mouse on their stomachs and a long tail with wires coming out of the end. The backs of their shells appeared to be the top of a computer mouse, buttons and all. "Move faster, mates!"the captain yelled at his crew, brandishing a gun and firing at the kamemon's feet. The kamemon dropped their chest and ran around, dodging the gunfire and waving their arms in the air.

The five Tamers and their digimon hid behind a large outcropping of rocks and gazed at the pirates down by the beach. "They look pathetic for pirates." Brian commented.

"Yeah, but they have a ship," Duane said. "And that's the only way we can keep heading east, like Gennai told you to."

"So are we just supposed to waltz up to them and ask to stow away?" Hope said sarcastically.

"You never know," Gabbie replied back.

They all fell silent as they watched the pirates fumble about ridiculously while their captain yelled at them. Brian suddenly felt something nudging him in the backside. "Agumon, tell me later,"

"Tell you what later, Brian?" Agumon asked. The digimon's voice came from the opposite side that he was being nudged from.

"Well then who...?" Brian turned around just as a toucanmon snatched the digivice from his belt in its mouth. The bird digimon turned around and ran a few feet with it. "Hey, you! Give that back! I need that!"

The toucanmon kept running as Brian chased it around the jutting rocks, throwing sand up into the air as they did so. Brian kept chasing the bird and Toucanmon kept running away, squawking and flapping it's wings. Off in the background at the large rock they were hiding behind, Hope, Gatomon, Duane, Leomon, Gabbie, Dobermon, Christina, Lunamon, and Agumon were all laughing at Brian.

"Spit it out, you dodo!" Brian yelled again, tackling Toucanmon. "I said spit it out!" Whe the toucanmon hit the ground, a loud squawk came out and it swallowed the digivice. Toucanmon started coughing and squawking even more. "That didn't just happen," Brian said unbelieving. He then grabbed hold of Toucanmon's throat and started shaking the bird wildly. "Spit it up! Spit up, I said! I want my digivice back! Give it here!" Brian turned the toucanmon over and started beating on its back. Everytime his hand collided with the digimon, Toucanmon gave a loud squawk and saliva flung out.

The digivice popped out of Toucanmon's beak and Brian threw the bird to the side and snatched it up quickly. The sand clung to the bird's saliva, forcing Brian to clean it off with his shirt. Just then, a group of kamemon came around the corner to investigate the ruccous. "Who's there?" one of the kamemon cried. "Humans? What are humans doing here?"

"Step aside, step aside!" cried another voice, pushing his way through the kamemon.

"Captain Hookmon! Sir!" another kamemon piped up. "We have discovered this lot here watching us and beating up Toucanmon!"

"Ah," Hookmon said in a cliched pirate accent. "Come ter steal me trey-jur, eh? Well, ye can't be havin' me gold, now can ye? No, no, tsk, tsk, tsk."

"What?" Christina cried. "We aren't here to steal your treasure! Keep all of it!"

"Arr, so the lass say's, that she does." Hookmon replied. "Well, I'll be being the judge of that, now won't I? First mate Toucanmon! Front an' center!"

"Yessir, Cap'n Hookmon! Right away, Cap'n Hookmon!" Toucanmon answered in a dumpy sounding voice as he waddled in front of Hookmon.

"What were these," he paused to find the right word to describe them, "hooligans doin' behind this 'ere rock?"

"Well, sir, I found them spying on us, sir. And then the one there with the big hair," he indicated Brian, "had something shiny on his belt. So I went in for a closer look and then the whole lot of them gang-beat me, sir."

"What?" cried Hope. "That isn't true! Only Brian beat him up!"

"Thanks, Hope." Brian shot her a glare. "Way to look out for me."

"Well, you know what I mean!" she shot back at him.

"It seems," Hookmon began, "that these intruders must be dealt with! We will now tie them up!" Before anybody could react, the kamemon had grabbed a hold of all five Tamers and their digimon, tied them up, and took away their digivices. The kamemon dragged them all the way to a beached row boat and then began to row out to the ship at sea. The waters were generally calm, with clear blue skies and only a slight breeze. The prow of the row boat smacked against the anchored ship and ropes were thrown down at them over the railing. The kamemon tied the thick ropes to each end of the row boat and whistled loudly. At the sound of the whistle, the boat lurched upwards and was heaved into the air and up onto the ship. The kamemon jumped out and then tipped the row boat on its side, throwing the captives out onto the deck.

Brian smacked his face hard against the wooden floor before the kamemon crew pulled him back up to his feet. He and his companions were then taken below deck and thrown into the brig. The metal door slammed shut behind them and the Kamemon returned to their posts.

"We have made a habit out of being captured," Duane remarked. "I think we should learn to plan a little better."

Billy stormed in through the front doors to his castle. Stomping all the way do his bed chamber, he pushed any nearby digimon out of his way. "Get me something hot to drink!" he barked at some bakemon. The bakemon ran off terrified of the boy's wrath, unwanting ofthe consequences that may result from slow movement.

Billy's personal room in the west wing of the fortress was the largest and the fanciest. On the far end of the room was a window with a cozy place to sit and near there was a small desk with a mirror. He opened the window, letting in the breeze and then sat down at the desk, looking at his reflection in the mirror.

"You'd better watch out, Daemon. If it wasn't for you, I would have already killed the other humans who oppose me."

"Technically," DemiDevimon said as he flew in through the window. "Technically, you would ne'er 'ave met them pesky humans in the first place if it wasn't fer Daemon. He is the one who brought you 'ere after all."

Billy opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a long knife. He quickly turned around and threw the blade in DemiDevimon's direction. The knife whizzed just centimeters over the top of the digimon's head, embedding itself into a wooden ship replica. "Jeez, boss!" DemiDevimon exclaimed. "Yer aim sure is gettin' better! There was a time when I'de actually have had to dodge them there points!"

Billy sat back down and spoke quietly. "Why haven't you digivolved yet?"

"I wasn't aware it was necessary at the moment, boss."

Billy smirked. "To mega, level, moron. Why haven't you yet digivolved to mega? You're stronger than any of the other digimon. and I'm stronger than any of the other Tamers. So why won't you digivolve?"

"Well, I don't know, boss." DemiDevimon perched himself on the bed frame and shrugged.

Billy pulled out his black digivice and set it down on the desk. He stared at it, contemplating the machine. "What is your secret? Why don't you react to me the way they other digivice's do for their Tamers?" He put his hands on the desk and yelled at his digivice, "Digivolve! Make my digimon stronger!"

"I don't think that will work," DemiDevimon said, closing his eyes and letting himself fall onto the matress. "Remember what we overheard LadyDevimon and Daemon saying back at the Floating Castle?"

"Yeah, something about how this digivice gives me my current power to dark digivolve, but I won't ever be able to go to the mega level. But that doesn't make sense, I can force other digimon to digivolve to mega. Why not you?"

"Beats me, boss," the digimon responded, starting to fall asleep.

"Maybe you are weak... I won't be using you anymore, DemiDevimon. You have been useful up till now, but now I have to defeat the digidestined and Daemon at any cost. And I think I know what digimon to use." Bill began to laugh into the night.

The Tamers and their digimon woke up with a start as the ship suddenly rocked to the right, as if hit by something. "What was that?" Christina asked.

The ship was hit again, harder this time, causing the ten of them to become airborn and hit the wall. Above them they could hear the crew yelling and running around. "I wonder what's going on?" Leomon said.

Again the ship was hit fromt he side, this time knocking the Tamers to the over end of their cell. The keys to the cell fell off the peg, landing right in front of Brian. "The keys!" he yelled as he reached through the bars to grab them. Suddenly, they were hit again. The keys flew away from Brian, who had smashed his face into the bars of the cell. He cried out in pain and frustration.

Suddenly there was a sound of breaking wood and light shined into the dark brig. Brian turned his head to see where then sun had penetrated from. At the far wall of their cell was a huge, clammy, grey tentacle pouring into the room through a hole in the ship's wall. The tentacle was feeling around, looking for soemthing to grab. What it finally grabbed onto was Duane's ankle.

As Duane was dragged across the wooden floor, he yelled to his friends, "Help me!" Brian leaped to his feet and grasped Duane's arm, momentarily slowing down the tentacle. As the tentacle recovered and pulled harder, the other Tamers and the five digimon all grabbed hold of Brian and Duane, trying to stop the tentacle from stealing their friend.

Leomon drew his sword and allowed the blade to come down onto the tentacle, severing it in one blow. Duane was quick to unwrap the remainder of it off of his ankle. From the wounded tentacle only came more tantacles, wrapping themselves around the waists, arms, and legs of Duane, Leomon, Agumon, Gatomon, Hope, and Gabbie and pulled them right out. The remaining Tamers and digimon, Brian, Christina, Lunamon, and Dobermon ran over to the hole in the wall.

Outside they could see Net Ocean. The blue waters crashed against the side of the boat as the attacking digimon clung to side. The giant digimon looked a lot liek and octopus. His arms and legs were made of groups of tentacles bound together with chains, gold rings, and black belts. Red wing like apendiges sprouted out of its back, although they probably were for moving in water rather than through the air. Around his neck were black juzu beads. His head had intricate red markings and a gaping mouth filled with teeth.

"What is it?" Christina gasped.

"I... I don't know!" Brian admitted. "I've never seen it before!"

"Daemon requestes an audience with the five Tamers on this ship." The creature spoke. "I am Dragomon, and you will comply or be destroyed."

"Do all evil villains read from the same script?" Dobermon asked sarcastically. "Black Beam!" the beam of dark energy burst from his mouth and cut the tantacles holding their friends. The captured Tamers and digimon fell through the air.

Dragomon laughed as two tentacles grew out of the stubs where Dobermon had sliced. The tentacles all found falling captives and wrapped themselves around them. "It won't be that easy! I'm an ultimate level digimon! I won't be bested by a weakling like you!"

"We'll see about that!" Christina yelled.

"What are we supposed to do? We don't have our digivices, remember?" Brian reminded her.

Just then, a group of kamemon lead by Captain Hookmon came down into the brig. He pointed at the cell gate and a couple of kamemon picked up the keys off the ground and unlocked the door. They then forcefully grabbed Brian, Christina, Dobermon, and Lunamon and dragged them out and up to the top deck. They were then dragged through a doorway and thrown onto the wooden floor. The kamemon left and shut the door behind them. Captain Hookmon sat down at his desk.

"Welcome to my quarters," he said.

"What do you want?" Brian asked sourly, standing and then helping Christina to her feet.

Hookmon opened up a drawer and reached in. He grabbed a sack and set it down on the table. The whole time, they could hear the kamemon running around and the sounds of battle. Also in the distance they could hear the screams of their friends. "I want you to save our ship!" He jumped out of his chair, landing right in front of them on his hands and knees. "Please! I beg of you! She's all I got! Don't let her take on any more water!" He held out the bag to grabbed it. Inside were their digivices and a coupon to use the ship's ferry service.

"You're kidding right?" Brian said. Tears welled up in Hookmon's eyes. "Ugh... this is ridiculous. Alright, we'll save your ship. Let's go!"

The four of them ran out of the captain's quarters and Lunamon digivolved to Lekismon, yelling, "Moon Night Kick!" She used her powerful legs to leap up into the air and strike Dragomon in the chest with her foot.

"Dragomon laughed and said, "Was that supposed to hurt? It actually kind of tickled!" He just laughed harder as Lekismon landed into the water below.

"Our attacks aren't working," Brian cried. "What do we do?"

"I don't know! I'm not experienced as a Tamer! That's why Gennai told you to come with us!" Christina shot back.

"Brian!" Agumone called. "Make me digivolve!" Brian held his digivice out and the screen glowed. Agumon was engulfed in a light that began to expand. Then the light shrunk and the tentacle holding Agumon began to glow. When the light finally broke, Agumon was still Agumon. "Try again!"

"Alright!" Brian did it again, and the exact same thing happened as last time.

"Yes!" Dragomon yelled triumphantly. "Keep digivolving! The energy feeds me! Give me more!" It was then that all of the tentacles holding the digimon began to glow. Soon the digimon began dedigivolving. Leomon and Gatomon were reduced to their rookie forms, Elecmon and Salamon. Agumon returned to Koromon.

"He can suck out the energy from our digimon?" Duane was shocked. "How can we beat him?"

Hope bit the tentacle holding her as hard as she could and she plumeted down into the water below. "You can't escape me that easily!" Dragomon called as he let go of the pirate's ship and follwed her under the water. The ship rocked backward from the sudden loss of wieght on one side. Koromon, Elecmon, and Salamon held their breath as they were forced under the water. Hope continued to dive down, tyring to escape the sea monster.

"The ship is free!" Brian called to the kamemon aboard. "And I have a plan!"

Captain Hookmon walked in front of him. "My plan is to be gettin' out of here as fast as I can! Quickly crew, back to the Keys!" The kamemon all leaped to their stations and put the ship back on course towards their hideout. Dobermon jumped into the air and landed on top of Hookmon, pinning him to the ground. The large dog monster growled in the captain's ear. "Eh? What's the big idea?"

"We're taking over this ship." Brian informed him. He took the hat off of Captain Hookmon and placed it upon his own head. "Kamemon, man your battle stations. We wills tay and fight."

"Well, he has the captain's hat I suppose," First Mate Toucanmon said. "Well, you heard the captain, you dogs! Man your battle stations!"

"This be mutiny!" Hookmon said as he struggled beneath Dobermon.

Meanwhile, beneath the ocean, Hope was swimming away from Dragomon as fast as she could, but neither she nor her friends in the enemies grasp could hold their breath forever. Dragomon was gaining on her. He was a far better swimmer than she was and could move thorugh the water with more agility than shecould ever hope for herself. Deciding that she was almost out of breath, she started to swim upwards when something caught her eye. The shock of it made her stop swimming completely. She couldn't believe that a DigiBlade door was here, under the ocean.

Dragomon floated directly behind her. "I told you long ago that you would be my queen, Kari. Now Daemon has rescued me from the Dark Ocean and promised you to me. We will have our queen..." Hope spun around and faced her enemy. She had absolutely no idea what Dragomon was talking about. Her name wasn't Kari and she had never seen Dragomon before.

'Wait,' Hope though to herself. 'He couldn't mean, Hikari Kamiya, could he?' Suddenly afraid, Hope spun towards the DigiBlade door and swam as fast as she could without looking over her shoulder.

"Thousand Whip!" Dragomon yelled. Any tentacles not already holding onto a Tamer or a digimon were flung at Hope. Lekismon swam to her rescue, scooping her up into the digimon's arms and swimming away. Hope, unable yto speak underwater, pointed at the DigiBlade Door. The digimon understood at once and took Hope to the door. She didn't have time to slow herself down and instead they swam right into Crest inside began to glow green as they drew nearer. It was in the shape of a tear drop.

Hope turned around to leave but instead found herself trapped by Dragomon. She was cornered with nowhere to go. Dragomon laughed, "I have you now, Kari. You will be mine!" He kept on luaghing until a big huge something rammed into him from the side. Duane, Gabbie, Elecmon, Salamon, and Koromon were released from the tentaclesand they all swam towards Hope and Lekismon. The giant whale that rammed Dragomon turned around and began to swim in their direction. As the monster opened its mouth wide, Hope and the others tried to swim away but they were soon pulled into the mouth, which closed around them.

Topside, back on deck, Brian had taken command of the ship by the time that Dragomon had resurfaced. "Where is she?" the monster yelled as the ocean splashed around him. "Where'd Kari go?"

"There is no Kari!" Brian yelled, turning the ship toward Dragomon. "Only me!" the sails caught the wind and rushed at the monster at full speed. The prow of the ship collided with Dragomon and broke off in the middle. The now splintered end rushed itself into the flesh of Dragomon. the impact cause the ship to rock and crack in places. Christina was thrown off into the water.

"Christina!" Brian yelled.

"My ship!" Hookmon cried. Tears streamed down his face as he realized the damage done to his ship.

Dobermon put his paw on the back of Hookmon's neck and growled, "Shut up!"

Christina swam back up above the water, coughing because she inhaled a little bit when she hit the waves. She wasn't in the water for long however. Soon a giant object floated up beneath her, lifting her up into the air above the waves. Water burst from a hole in the object's back.

"There's somebody on my back, kids," the object beneath Christina spoke.

"Who is it Whamon?" Hope's voice came from the blow hole.

Christina yelled down into the blow hole, "Hope? Is that you? It's me, Christina!"

"Stina!" Duane's voice called back. "That's great! Let her inside, Whamon!"

Whamon opened up his large mouth and said, "Climb on in, Christina." The girl hesitated, but then jumped in off the digimon and swam over to the front. She then pulled herself into the mouth, which closed around her. Christina looked around her. Hope, Gabbie, Duane, Gatomon, Leomon, Agumon, and Lekismon were there.

"Stina!" Lekismon called. "I'm happy to see that you're okay!"

"Is Dobermon alright?" Gabbie asked.

"Yeah! He helped us take over the pirate ship. He's got Hookmon pinned down at the moment.

"Whamon," Hope yelled. Her voice echoed throughout the cave-like mouth. "Take us back to the DigiBlade Door! I think I know who can open it!"

The Tamers felt the giant digimon move and gravity shift as Whamon began to sink down lower. When they finally stopped, Whamon said, "Okay, Christina. Go into the back of my throat and I will expel you out of my blow hole."

Christina didn't move. "You can't be serious?"

"Go on Stina," Duane said. "It'll be okay. Trust me! Whamon is a good digimon. He saved us from drowning."

"I'll be with you the whole time," Lekismon assured her.

"Well, okay." Christina finally resolved. Her and Lekismon walked down the throat. Once in the back, Whamon opened his mouth and let in some water. He propelled the water, Christina, and Lekismon out into the ocean. Christina spun around, unable to control herself in the cold, salty water. When she was able to regain her composure, Lekismon grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the Door. The tear drop Crest inside began to glow green as they got nearer. Christina pulled her digivice out of her pocket and inserted it into the digivice shaped slot. The Door cracked open and a blinding light shone from within. Christina was forced to shield her eyes as the Door slid open slowly. From within the shroud of light, the DigiBlade came forth. She reached out and grasped the medium sized ring. The chakram was light and made of Chrome Digizoid, like the rest of the DigiBlades. The handle on the inside was ornately inscribed with digicode. In the very center, there was a small, empty slot jsut the right size and shape for a digivice. The DigiBlade Door closed and and her digivice floated into the slot on the DigiBlade. The tear drop shaped Crest was emplazoned on the back of the digivice.

Christina and Lekismon were suddenly sucked back up into the mouth of Whamon and the excess water was expelled through the blow hole. Everybody inside cheered for Christina and her newfound DigiBlade. "I have guarded the DigiBlade of Sincerity since it was madeall those years ago." Whamon told them. "It has been my duty to keep evil doers away until somebody like you could come and retrieve it. Now you have, and now my mission is complete." Nobody could think of anything to say so Whamon took them back up to the surface.

The whole time, Brian had been fighting to keep Dragomon pinned to the ship and way from his friends. Dragomon's tentacles had criss-crossed themsleves all over the ship. Dragomon and the ship were so intertwined that they almost became one creature. Brian was hacking at the tentacles that came near him with his DigiBlade battle axe. Everytime he cut one though, two more grow back from the stub. He was soon surrounded by a mass of tentacles that would stop at nothing to tear him apart.

"Our digimon have had their energy sucked out of them, Stina." Duane told her, looking at the ship through Whamon's open mouth. "It's up to you to save Brian now."

Christina nodded. Lekismon jumped into the air and splashed down into the water. Lekismon started swimming to the ship. She climbed up and was almost immediately knocked back off by a tentacle. "It seems that it isn't going to be that easy, Lekismon!" Christina shouted.

Suddenly, a tentacle grabbed Brian's foot and pulled him down. He smacked his face against the deck and dropped his DigiBlade. Dragomon's tentacles soon grabbed all of Brian's limbs and lifted him into the air. Another group of tentacles picked up his battle axe. "Oh! This weapon has an abundance of energy for me to deplete!" Dragomon yelled happily. The tentacles glowed as they started sucking energy from the weapon..

Agumon fell over. The Tamers and their digimon still inside of Whamon's mouth all rushed over to see if he was alright. He looked very sick. "The partner digimon is connected to the digivice through its bond with his Tamer." Whamon told them. "And the digivice is connected directly to the DigiBlade. Dragomon is sucking the energy right out of Agumon!"

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Hope asked.

"Get out of my mouth now, children." Whamon told them. Everybody got out and a few of them helped to keep Agumon afloat. Whamon then charged at full speed towards Dragomon and rammed right into the large digimon. Dragomon let go of the ship and allowed Brian and the DigiBlade to drop to the deck. The giant octopus instead focused his tentacles onto Whamon. "You think you can save them, guardian of the ocean?" Dragomon yelled. "You cannot save them! Daemon will have them!" Dragomon's tentacles were thrusted into Whamon's throat and then tore their way out his back. With a powerful pull, Whamon was torn in half and dissolved into data.

"No!" Christina yelled. "Whamon! He sacrificed himself for us... Lekismon! We have to avenge Whamon!" At that moment, her digivice's screen and the Crest of Sincerity emblazoned on the back began to glow green and Lekismon was engulfed in the light of digivolution. She grew taller and more powerful. Her head was completely covered in a stong metal helmet and the rest of her torso was clad in armour. He strong legs were given metal boots to wear and in her hands rested the two crescent shaped weapons, Nuova Luna

She rose up into the air as the light dissolved away from her. "I am Crescemon, and I will kill you for what you have done to Whamon," she said to Dragomon. "Ice Archery!" she yelled, pulling arrows of ice from behind her and firing them into the water from her Nuova Luna weapon. The water froze over where the arrows hit to make an ice bridge that Crescemon could skate upon. Dragomon realized what she was doing and promptly began smashing at her with his large tentacles, breaking up the ice around her. Crescemon either jumped over the clammy apendages or sidestepping onto newer ice bridges that she created on the spot in response to Dragomon's attack Eventually she was able to find a way to get behind her opponent and land a heavy kick to his gellatinous form. The power from the attack forced the monster to sink underwater. "Yeah!" Brian yelled form aboard the ship. "You're winning!" Just as soon as he had finished his cheer, Dragomon's tentacles began shooting up out of the water at random around the ship, grabbing hold of the mast and railings.

Dragomon pulled himself out of the waves and screamed, "I will not be defeated that easily!"

"We'll see about that!" Crescemon yelled as she began shooting her Dark Archery attack at the tentacles coming out of the water. The darkness arrows pierced the many tentacles protruding from the water. At each contact, the tentacles writhed in pain and agony as they sank back into the ocean. "Lunatic Dance!" she cried, performing intricate ballet-style dance routines around Dragomon. The enemy was enraged by her speed and agility as each and every one of his tentacles failing to land an attack.

Soon, Crescemon was able to get in close and slash at the monster with her pendulum-like Nuova Luna weapon. Blood gushed out of the open gash in his side as the waters around him turned a sickly red color. As Dragomon was yelling in anger and pain, allowing Crescemon to encase the water at her enemy's base in a thick sheet of ice. She then skated in for another close range attack, leaving two more huge gashes in the back and front of Dragomon's torso.

Dragomon crashed down into the water, blood pouring out of his open wounds. A huge wave rippled from where he slapped against the ocean. "If I am to die, then I will take you with me!" What tentacles he had left that weren't damaged grasped whatever surfaces were available on the ship. The ship began to tilt sideways towards the waves. The crew on board could not keep their balance as the deck slowly became vertical.

"He's going to destroy the ship!" Brian yelled holding onto the ship's control wheel. "If the ship goes, then we'll die of starvation of hypothermia or something!"

Dragomon laughed as he sank into the water, dragging the ship down with him. "Not if I can help it," Christina said. She submergered herself underwater and found her target. With as much power as she could muster, she tossed her DigiBlade in the direction of Dragomon. The chakram whizzed through the water at top speed until it hit its mark. Sinking itself deep into Dragomon's head, the monster yelled in pain. Dragomon began to dissolve from the spot of the wound. When he was nothing but data, he could no longer hold his form and Dragomon exploded, launching the ship back into its upright position and flinging several members of the crew off into the waters.

The four Tamers and the four partner digimon that were still in the water were brought back aboard the ship and Christina was cheered on very loudly by human and digimon alike. "Thank you, Tamers!" Captain Hookmon said to them all in a formal ceremony severel hours later. By this time the ditgivices had already been redistributed amongst them and they had been given their own quarters. "Forevermore, you ten shall be welcome aboard my vessel! You will be honored guests aboard the Christina!"

Christina was shocked. "Y-you named the ship after me?"

"But of course, lass!" Hookmon replied. "What better a name than that of the one who saved her, eh?"

"Wow!" Christina exclaimed. "I'm really honored!"

"You should all head to bed," Toucanmon told them. "We will arrive at the Digital Keys tomorrow morning, and we will make our landing at around midday."

The Tamers and their digimon all went down to their quarters below deck and they slept peacefully all night long.


	30. Dark Masters

He approched the heavy stone doors with determination. The stone gargoyles that flanked the pathway leading up to the fortress glared at Daemon with distaste as he glided past them, barely unaware of their exisence at all. The stone doors that barred the way into the mighty fortress was huge and towered over the demon digimon. They were emblazoned with intricate designs snaking their way around the digicode that read, "To those who dare step through these doors, beware ye shall let loose the four. Unwitting minds that seek these walls, on you this world's fate befalls."

Daemon gave a quick, amused chuckle. "Pretty words from an age long since past do not scare me." With one swift motion, he raised his hand and released a flood of dark energy that flowed to the door. The energy smashed into the door and splashed all around as black flames licked the surface of the stone. The solid rock door seemed to crack apart where the intense heat of the darkness struck it. The darkness continued to flow from Daemon's outstretched hand until at last the door succumbed to his power and crumbled into ruin. The demon digimon stopped the flow of energy and glided inside over the rubble as debris still fell down around him.

Emerging unharmed into the the large chamber inside, Daemon looked around as the torches surrounding the walls lit at his presence. The chamber was dark and damp. It was dusty and cobwebs filled the corners. Before him were four passages, each one flanked by torches. Above the passages were pictographs. Above one was the head of a metal dragon, a puppet above the next, then a sea snake, and finally a twin set of drama masks, one happy and one sad. Each of these symbols was carved into the stone and was partially worn down with age.

"The Order of Gennai was ignorant if they thought that this would actually fool me." Daemon knew that down each passage led to a different death, each one gruesome and worthy of only the worst of criminals. Just walking down any of the passages ahead of him wouldn't do. There was a secret combination that Daemon had come across that would allow him access to the quarry he sook.

He lifted his arm once again and allowed a ball of dark energy to materialize at his fingertips. He then shoved the ball at the emblem of the water snake. He then did the same thing to the puppet emblem, then the metal dragon head, and finally the masks. Each one glowed a bright red color as they were hit. The ground then began to rumble and shake. More debris fell from the ceiling and the dust began to stir up. Soon the walls began to rotate around Daemon, faster and faster. Soon everything was a blur as the wind and the dust was kicked up into the air. The glowing emblems seemed to be one bright band around the walls as they kept spinning.

And then suddenly, everything stopped. In front of Daemon was one, large opening above which was carved an emblem with each of the four emblems fused together. Daemon wore a large grin as he walked through the dark passage in front of him. His eyes gleamed as his excitement grew. The passage soon opened up into a large room with four immense cryochambers. Each cryochamber had tons of wires and cables and pipes flowing from them and into the walls, ceiling, and floor. Several machines surrounding the walls beeped and whizzed as electricty flowed through them and into the crychambers.

"At last!" Daemon stopped in the middle of the room and raised his arms. "They shall be reborn!" From his outstretched hands flew bolts of purple lightning that flowed into every nearby maching. Everything beeped and whizzed louder and faster. The cryochambers began to move and sit upright on their tracks. Smoke and exchaust filled the room as the four chambers opened up. "Enter, the Dark Masters!" Daemon cried triumphantly. He then laughed in sick pleasure as the smoke filled the room until it was too thick to see very far.

As Daemon lowered his arms back down to his side, three hazy forms began to appear through the smoke. They walked until they were finally withing visibility of Daemon. "Who dares enter our tomb and awaken us?" The taller humanoid said.

"Maybe its a new friend!" the smallest interjected.

The largest fo the three, a snake-like creature, slithered into view, "Or maybe it is food?"

"You may call me master," Daemon told them. "The digidestined are back and I want your help in destroying them. If you agree to help me then I will release you from this 'tomb'."

The three looked at each other, assessing the situation. "And what about Machinedramon?" the talled one, Piedmon, asked Daemon. "His body was damaged beyond repair during the first battles with the digidestined. Now only his memory remains." he turned to the smallest Dark Master and said, "Drop it Puppetmon."

Puppet mon dropped a large metal box onto the ground in front of him. "That's it! That's all that's left of Machinedramon! Poor, poor Machinedramon! You shall be missed!"

"Shut up," the largest of the three, MetalSeadramon hissed.

"I have built a new body for Machinedramon." Daemon explained. "It is more powerful and it will not be destroyed as easily. At the moment it is just an empty shell, willing to do my bidding. IT is nearly useless for anything other than data gathering though. Which, by the way, I have already done to the leader, Meramera. He holds the power of Courage. I think you know him as Tai."

MetalSeadramon let out a wail that shook the walls. "I will destroy the brat myself!"

Piedmon raised a hand. MetalSeadramon fell silent immediately. "Let's say we do help you. Then what? What do we get?"

"The satisfaction of revenge of course."

Piedmon smiled devilishly. "I enjoy the way you do business."

xxxxxxxxxxx

Hope had woken up early that next morning to see the sunrise. She leaned over the railing looking at the horizon over the island off to the side of the ship. She wanted to go to that island more than anything. The island was still green and full of life. It was completely untouched by the Digital Wastes that she hated so much. She thought that maybe if she could see that this world still was worth fighting for then she would fight for it instead of just for herself and her friends.

"I never got to see the ocean," a voice form behind her said, startling Hope. "Before Dobermon and the Digital World, I mean." Gabbie leaned over the rail next to Hope and stared downward at the waves below. "After I met Billy and was sent back the the Real World, I got to see the ocean there, in California. It was so beautiful. I once asked Dobermon to take me to the ocean in this world too. He never wanted me to come to the Digital World in the first place, let alone twice."

"He's a good partner. He cares about you." Hope told her.

"Yeah, he's the best, but he doesn't understand my fascination with the ocean. He says that its just a lot of water."

"He understands danger though." Hope glanced over to Gabbie as she said this. The other girl looked a little guilty at enjoying something that her best friend worried so much over. "Besides, it is just water right?"

"No!" Gabbie quickly looked back at Hope's face with a bright smile. "It's much more than that! The ocean is where the most amazing and imaginative creatures live. If you ever want to see a really exotic creature then visit the ocean. It's where life began. It's like the experimenting area for whoever created the worlds."

"I see." Hope looked back out over the ocean. Gabbie stared at her expectantly. "Why are you here Gabbie?"

"Because we've never really had the chance to talk before. You're from Minnesota aren't you? I am too."

Hope studied her for a moment, and then laughed.

Gabbie was surprised. She hadn't expected this. "Why are you laughing?"

"I don't know. Just for the sake of laughing I suppose," she said as she kept laughing.

A small smile appeared on Gabbie's face. "You're a dork," and then her smile turned into a big grin and soon she too was laughing.

"A'righ', lassies!" Captain Hookmon said from behind them. "That'll be enough outta you! We make land soon, so be gittin' yer land legs on!" he quickly ran over to the wheel spun it around as he barked a few commands. "Kamemon crew! I want the decks scrubbed!"

"Decks scrubbed!" the first mate Toucanmon echoed the order.

"Sails raised!"

"Sails raised!" Toucanmon repeated again.

"I want The Christina in tip-top shape before we make land!"

"Tip-top shape! Before landfall!"

"Would you be quiet?" Hookmon slammed his hook hand down on top of Toucanmon's head. As the kamemon ran about doing their morning chores and making sure the ship was in top condition, the other Tamers and the digimon soon filed out of the sleeping quarters, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. "Behold!" Hookmon cried as the sails caught the wind and the ship sped toward the island. "Welcome lasses and lassies, to the Isle of Num! The first island of the Digital Keys! We must make our way carefully through this next step of the way, Devidramon's Maw is a dangerous place tuh be keepin' yer head lookin' down at yer feet. Ye must constantly be vigilant!" A horrible grating sound came from the side of the ship and the ship shook and rocked, causing everybody to fall over. "What the bloody-?"

"We've hit a rock, Cap'n!"

Except for that one mishap, the rest of the journey was pretty easy going. Devidramon's Maw was a shallow bit of water surrounded by high cliffs. Rocks and boulders jutted up out of the water and the ship was forced to carve and intricate path through the maze. Soon the ship came to a stop and Captain Hookmon gave the Tamers and their partners a small boat and directions to a cave called Smuggler's Cove.

"Good bye, you lot!" Captain Hookmon said to them, taking his had off forlornly. "I'll be missin' the lot of ye! Especially you Christina!" Christina blushed a little bit and they all said their good byes.

The cave waws damp and eerie. It gave several of the Tamers the creeps. Brian and Agumon led the group silently through the cave holding a bright torch. Everything from rubber hoses to vending machines to old gym socks littered the floors and lined the walls. The place was full of useless junk that the Tamers had to crawl over. Several bats clung to the ceiling until the light of the torch became unbearable to them. They flew off in every direction, fleeing the light.

The group finally came to the end of the cave. It seemed to be a dead end with a bright electric 'Exit' sign over a large boulder. "Well, I guess we have to move the rock," Brian said. "C'mon, Duane."

The two of them moved over to one side of the rock and pushed as hard as they could. The boulder would not budge. They motioned for their digimon to come over and help. Agumon, Leomon, and even Dobermon all came over to push on the side of the boulder. They all pushed hard and eventually fell to the ground, defeated.

"I think this requires a lady's touch," Hope said. "Don't you, Gatomon?"

"Move aside there, macho men." Gatomon said as she pushed the guys aside. Gabbie, Christina, Lunamon, and Gatomon all lined up against the boulder and pushed. It wasn't until Hope pushed her hand against it that it moved though. As soon as Hope made contact, there was a flash of light and the rock simply moved aside of it's own accord. The sunlight from the other side spilled in and the darkness was gone. Fresh air flowed in.

"Well, I guess you can't argue with results!" Duane said.

Brian shot him an angry look because his pride was a little hurt. "Let's just get out of here."

The group left the cave and into the light of day, except Hope, who instead stood there, staring at her hand.

'You have the power to banish darkness,' Gennai's voice rang through her head. He had said that to her after he rescued her from Billy.

"What's the matter, Hope?" Gatomon called. "Aren't you coming?"

"Uh yeah," she said, snapping herself back to reality. "Yeah I'm coming!" She ran out to join the others. They appeared to be in a forest of some kind. It was unlike anything They had ever seen. Huge ferns covered the ground and the trees rose up into the sky. Birds flew through the sky and the sounds of life filled their ears. Even the air had a look of life to it that they had never seen before in the Digital Wastes.

"Wow!" Gabbie exclaimed. "This is amazing!"

"It's dangerous is what it is." Dobermon said as he inched closer to Gabbie, taking a protective stance.

"I agree with Dobermon." Brian said. "Hope, do you remember the forest that we met Gatomon in?"

"Yeah, of course I do."

"Well, that forest was half decayed because of how close it was to the Wastes. There are no wastes out here. This place is as lively as anywhere on the planet. And life here means monsters. Lots of monsters. We have to be on our toes."

"Yeah, like this!" Agumon rose up onto his toes and did a ballerina spin.

"Would you stop that!" Brian barked. "You're ruining my leader speech!" The whole group laughed and Brian slung his arms down. "Oh alright fine. Let's just go."

They decided on a direction to walk in and set off through the jungle, listening to the sounds of life that was hard to experience in the rest of the Digital World. As the sky grew dark, they decided to make camp. A fire was soon built and the ten of them sat down to eat.

"Has anybody ever noticed that we don't run out of food?" Duane stated as the light of the fire licked his face. "Well, we do, but not until somebody thinks that we are running low on food."

"What are you talking about?" Brian asked him.

"Well, I was thinking one day, 'every time we think we're getting low on food, it turns out that we are, no matter how long its been since we last refilled out stock.' Now, I think that it's highly unlikely that we have a sixth sense about our food stores, so I thought maybe that we decide how much food we have."

"You're insane," Hope told him and laughed.

"No really! Hear me out! Let's do a little experiment." Duane turned his head to Gabbie. "Would you go over to our packs and look iside? remember to think thoughts like 'we don't have a lot of food left.' Can you do that for me? Oh and don't tell us how much is in there. i have another theory that I want to test out later."

Gabbie did as she was asked a little skeptically and then came and sat back down. He then turned to Christina and said, "Now will you please do the same thing, Stina, only think thoughts like 'we have a ton of food'?" She also did that and sat back down. "How much food did we have Stina?"

Christina said, "We have a lot I suppose. The bag is full anyways.

"That can't be right!" Brian said. "I made dinner and the bag was only half full when I finished!"

"When I looked in there was hardly anything there." Gabbie told them.

"What's going on here Duane?" Hope asked. The digimon were looking around at their Tamers curiously.

"It's exactly as I thought," he told them. "We each see what we think we ought to see."

"What does that mean?" Christina asked.

"It means exactly that." Duane replied. "If we think we have a lot of food, then we do. If we think we don't have a lot then we don't. The Digital World seems to be reacting to our thoughts. In other words, I think we have, on some small scale anyway, the power to alter the data of this world."

"Whoa, that's heavy stuff, Duane," Brian said, a little blown away. "Why haven't we realized this sooner? I would think that with all of us looking into the pack and seeing soemthing different we would have noticed that a while ago."

"See, I was thinking about that too. And then it hit me!" Duane was getting really excited now. "If one of us looks in the bag and then toldt he rest of us what was in there, then we would expect to see exactly what they told us was there! If Brian tells Hope that the bag is half full, then her mind will say that the bag is half full when she looks, and then so it is. Isn't that kind of cool?"

Gabbie laughed and said, "Yeah, I guess it is!"

"Well, I think that's enough discovering for me today," Hope said. "I'm going to head to bed."

Everybody agreed with her and the girls went off into the tent, leaving the boys to sleep on the ground outside. Dobermon curled up infron of the tent door and watched the darkness with aprehension, determined to not let anything happen to Gabbie inside.

xxxxxxxxx

Hope opened her eyes. She was in a dark room with cobwebs lining the walls and the furniture. She was laying on a dusty bed. The room was familiar to her. Hope sat up and looked around. She was alone.

"Gennai?" she called. "Gennai! Where are you? Why am I here?"

"Here where?" a soft and elderly voice asked her. Gennai had just entered the room and was studying her.

"What do you mean where? You know where this is better than I do!"

"Are you asking me why you are in my house or why you are in the Digital World at all?" Hope opened her mouth to speak and stopped. Gennai raised his hand to quiet her and then continued, "It does not matter what the question is. The answer is the same. You chose to be who, what, and where you are. You are Digidestined because you chose to be so. You are partnered with Gatomon because you chose her. You are Light, not because a prophecy told you that you must, but because you chose that for yourself! The Digidestined have an amazing ability to chose their destinies, at least subconsciously. You even chose to come her and speak to me."

"Is that why we never run out of food? Because we chose not to?"

Gennai smiled. "Something like that."

"Why did I choose to come here? To your house?"

"I had assumed that maybe you just wanted some company. I made you some tea," he motioned to the kettle by the bed.

"Uh, I'll pass for now."

"Very well. In that case, perhaps you simply need the information I have. The first thing I would like to tell you why you and Duane were able to return to the Digital World when I did not have the power to do it myself. The reason is very important. Daemon, a very evil digimon who once gave orders to LadyDevimon before your group killed her, has risen a very ancient land from its prison. It was once known as Monitor. We of the Order of Gennai once locked the continent away for eternity to hide four creatures of immense power and capable of much tyranny. They were called the Dark Masters. After the first Eight Digidestined defeated them, we placed the Dark Masters in cryochambers located on Monitor and sank the continent below the ocean. The amount of power that was needed for Daemon to lift it back up began to tear open portals in the space-time continuum. Those portals allowed data from the Digital World to leak through into the Real World and vise-versa."

"So, it's because of this Daemon that we were able to come back?"

"Exactly."

"So, why did Daemon raise Monitor from the ocean?"

"Daemon has released the Dark Masters from their tomb and has now recruited their aide in killing you and your friends. I fear that the four of them may be too powerful for just the five of you. I think you will need the help of Billy, Tyler, and Peter as well. Even then it may be too much for you. These monsters are not to be taken lightly, do you understand, Hope? These monsters are more powerful villains than anything you have ever faced in the past."

"Yeah, I got you," Hope said as she swallowed hard. Gennai had a knack for terrifying her.

"Excellent then," the old man said as a smile returned to his face. "There is one heading in your direction now. I think you will end up encountering him soon enough on one of the other two islands."

"Is there anything else I should know?"

"Oh I'm sure that there are lots of things you should know. But I don't know them either. Lay back down now, Hope, and close your eyes." She did as she was told and when she opened them back up, it was because she was being shooken awake by Brian.

xxxxxxxxxxx


	31. Centarumon's Grove

Puppetmon strolled trough the forest angrily mumbling to himself. "How dare they send me out here all by myself. Why should I have to go get them first? I want to go back and play with my toys. I want my choo choo train!" The sun poured through the tall canopy and bathed the ground below him. The many leaves and branches above left a splotchy shadow covering the path that he walked on. Somewhere off in the forest the sound of running water could be heard but Puppetmon wasn't paying any attention to that. All he could think about was how unfair his life was and how the way the other Dark Masters treated him wasn't right. "I should be in charge, not that Piedmon. I'm way stronger than he is!" Puppetmon stopped in his tracks and yelled into the sky. He quit yelling and hunched his shoulders downward, breathing heavy. "Stupid Piedmon."  
He readjusted the large .44 magnum hammer that rested against his should and looked back up to the sky. It was then that Puppetmon realized there was a human boy sitting in a tree several yards in front of where he stood. The boy had long dark hair and was biting into an an apple. Puppetmon ran over to the base of the tree that the boy sat in and yelled, "Hey you! What are you doing here?"  
Juice from the apple ran down the boy's chin. He wiped it away and said with a full mouth, "I'm eating an apple."  
"Oh, I get it! You think you're smart!"  
"Oh yes, quite indeed," the boy took another bite of the apple and tossed the core away. He then leaped down from the tree and landed next to Puppetmon. "I am smart enough to realize that you certainly have more brains than whoever it is you were grumbling about earlier."  
Puppetmon glared at the boy with distrust. "Do you... do you really think that?"  
"Oh yes, of course. I wish I had a friend as smart and talented as you. I mean, just look at how easily you carry that large weapon!"  
The Dark Master moved the hammer so that the boy could see it better. "Aw, well this is nothing! I can lift a lot of really heavy things! Want to see?"  
"Yeah I do!" The boy seemed genuinely interested. Puppetmon went over to the nearest log and heaved as hard as he could. The moss covered log flew off of the ground and into the air, spinning up over the trees and out of sight.  
"See? I'm very strong!"  
"Wow!" the boy sounded impressed. "You really are strong! I wish I was that strong. All I can do is swing this sword," he motioned to the broadsword on his back, "and I'm not even very good at that. I've always wanted a really strong friend to protect me."  
"Hey!" Puppetmon exclaimed. "I just got a great idea! Let's be friends, okay? We will play all of my favorite games! Will you play with me?"  
"Yeah, of course!" The boy put a hand on Puppetmon's shoulder. "But first, would you do me a little favor?"  
"That depends on what it is."  
"Well, there are these kids who have been picking on me recently. I'm not strong enough on my own to defend myself or tell them to stop. Would you help tell them to back off?"  
"Somebody's picking on my friends, eh? Alright then! Let's go teach them a lesson! Hey what's your name anyway?"  
"My name is Billy," he extended his arm out in front of him.  
The digimon smiled and said, "I'm Puppetmon!" He grasped Billy's hand they shook on their new friendship.  
xxxxxxxxx  
"C'mon, Hope! Get up!" Brian was shaking Hope and the others in the tent awake. "Get up you guys! We have to go! C'mon!'  
The three girls, Gatomon, and Lunamon finally sat up and yawned. "What's going on Brian?" Hope asked him.  
"The forest. It's on fire. We have to leave! Now! Get up!"  
They wasted no time getting out of the tent after hearing that. When they got outside, the air was filled with smoke and the light of the fire was intense. Despite it still being dark, the wildfire made the area extremely warm. Duane, Agumon, and Dobermon were doing what they could to put out the nearby flames by throwing dirt and water on it or simply by stamping down. Their attempts were futile though as the flames grew higher and higher. The fire surrounded their camp.  
"There's no excape!" Christina yelled. Lunamon stood in front of her, attempting to defend her Tamer.  
"What do we do?" Duane called to Brian.  
"I... I don't know!" He was sheilding himself from the heat. He didn't want the others to see his fear.  
The flames got stronger and more powerful as they raged through the forest, burning and killing everything in its path. The flames had soon leaped onto the tent and their packs had long since been reduced to ash. The group had been forced to stand back to back as the fire had surrounded them. The heat was too intense to bear and they were certain that they were going to die.  
"Hanging Twister!" a booming voice rang out over the flames. Soon a small tornado broke its way through the flames in front of the Tamers. The tornado had left a path and at the end of that path was a large elk-like creature. "Hurry, children! Follow me if you want to live!" With that the digimon barrelled off into the forest, creating more paths with his Hanging Twister attack.  
"You heard the... thing!" Brian told them, regaining his courage. "Let's go!" He then bolted off into the forest after the digimon with the others riding his heels. They ran as hard as they could through the maze, trying hard to avoid the flames that would surely engulf them if given the opportunity. Ahead of them were some shrubs that hadn't yet been touched by the fire. Brian was the first one through and almost fell off of the cliff.  
Across the gorge was the elk digimon. "Hurry, children! Your lives are at risk!" He then turned around and ran off into the forest again. Brian looked down. Below was a river of rushing water. Covering the surface was a thick layer of ash. He only had just enough time to realize the water was there before the others burst out of the forest behind him. Unable to stop in time, they ran right into Brian and the whole group fell off the cliff and into the waters below.  
They crashed into the water, splashing the liquid against the cliff walls. Brian's feet touched the floor of the river and he pushed himself back above the surface. "Agumon! Where are you!" he called as soon as he could. He grabbed a hold of a nearby tree limb. "Agumon!"  
"Over here!" He heard Hope call. She, Gabbie, Dobermon and Gatomon were clutching a wet rock that was showing over the surface of the water. They were trying to keep an unconscious Agumon above water.  
"Where are the others?" Brian called back.  
There was some coughing from behind him as Christina and Lunamon pulled themselves out of the water and onto another rock, larger than Hope and Gabbie's. "Yeah," Christina coughed again, spitting up water. "We're over here."  
"Don't everybody ask where I am all at once." Duane's voice sounded sarcastically from above them. Brian looked upward and there hung Duane from a branch by his jacket collar. Leomon clung to a rock near his Tamer.  
"What's the matter Leomon?" Hope teased. "Are you afraid of getting wet?"  
"I am not afraid! I simply don't like it."  
"Quit clowning around you guys," Brian rebuked them. "Agumon is hurt and we need to get to the other side of this river." The group quickly made their way to the other side and dried themselves off at the shoreline. Leomon used his sword to snap the branch supporting Duane and then reluctantly jumped into the water after him. The fire could not reach this side of the river because the river itself was too wide. They were finally safe for now.  
"So now what do we do?" Hope asked of nobody in particular while wringing out her shirt.  
"I think we should go off and find that digimon who helped us," Brian suggested. "Maybe he knows how the fire got started in the first place. He obviously knew that we where there."  
"Should we trust him?" Christina asked.  
"I don't see why not," Duane told her. "He saved our lives"  
It was finally settled that they would all go off in search of the elk digimon. They finished wringing out most of the water from their clothes and hair and then set off into the forest. They wandered around for several hours before they finally admitted that they were lost and that they would probably never find the elk digimon. A little depressed, they made camp with what little supplies they had left and went to sleep.  
xxxxxxxxxxxx  
Minotarumon held the rope tighter as the beast on the other end tugged. "Quiet down, you!" he yelled at the Dinobeemon he had captured. The captive monster was a very unusual hybrid between a Stingmon and an ExVeemon. "You will make a pretty penny on the slave trade, now won't you, popkin?" The great bull-man laughed loudly.  
"Would you shut your trap?" Digitamamon yelled without turning around. "I'm trying to spy on these children here. That fire we started should've killed them. Perhaps they may be useful to us if we can capture them too, eh?" The egg covered digimon began thinking of all of the money he could make by selling the humans in the clearing ahead.  
Minotarumon ignored him and continued laughing as he forced the Dinobeemon into the wheeled cage. Dinobeemon slashed at the minotaur. "Why, you! Demon Arm!" He raised his large cannon arm and fired a round at Dinobeemon. The insect-dragon was forcebly flung into the back of the cage and fell down unconscious. "That oughtta learn ya!" Minotarumon laughed triumphantly, pointing a finger at the caged animal.  
An annoyed Digitamamon threw a rock at Minotarumon to quiet him down. "You'll wake the children up! If they find out that we're here, then I'll kill you myself!"  
"Please, Digitamamon," Vademon said, standing up and walking out of the shadows. "You wouldn't hurt a fly. Unless it landed it your famouse soup, that is." The alien digimon chuckled a little at his own joke.  
Digitamamon wasn't impressed however. "I do not make soup anymore, Vademon. You know that. I gave up the restaraunt after those kids ruined my business by destroying Myotismon's army."  
"Ah, so you do remember." Vademon seemed please. "Then do you recognize those children? They have different faces and different names, but those are the chosen children. I have a vendetta with the boy that hangs around the Leomon. I believie his name is Duane now. Before the so-called 'peace days' he defeated me and I was sent to the Dark Area. I want revenge. Sell the others if you wish, but Izzy is mine!" The skinny digimon glared angrily at the group of sleeping children.  
"Well, what do you want to do about it?" Minotarumon asked.  
"We will capture them, play with them a little, and then do what we always do with the slaves we capture. We sell them and make a profit," Vademon told him.  
"You will not do anything of the sort," A large, shimmering elk stepped out of the shrubs and spoke. "These children are under my protection, and you will not harm them."  
"And who are you to tells us what to do, eh?" Digitamamon asked with a stomp of his foot.  
"Yes, Moosemon," Vademon said. "You agreed that we can take any creatures from this forest for our markets."  
"I said you may take the dangerous ones away. And I most certainly did not say you could light the forest on fire. Over step your boundaries again, and I will put my hoof in a few places that you would not enjoy very much. Do you understand me?"  
"Yes, Lord Moosemon," Vademon declared. "I understand the terms most clearly.  
"Good. Now leave with your quarry." Moosemon turned and left without another word.  
"Now what do we do?" Minotarumon asked.  
"The plans don't change." Vademon told him. "The digidestined will be mine."  
"But how can we do that with Moosemon breathing over our shoulders?" Digitamamon asked.  
"I think you can do it with my help," a voice said from behind the bushes. A boy with long, dark hair walked out. "My name is Billy."  
"Well, Billy," Vademon spat. "What makes you so certain that we want your help?"  
"The only person who can stop you from taking the Tamers is Moosemon. I will kill him for you and then the Tamers are yours."  
"And why don't we just take you instead?" Minotarumon said. "You're a digidestined too, aren't you?"  
"Yes, he is," Vademon said. "And I beleive that Digitamamon is familiar with you, too."  
Digitamamon was uninterested and starring at the Tamers on the other side of the brush until he heard his name. He turned around and seeing Billy, yelled, "Matt! I'll kill you Matt!" He tucked down his head and charged at Billy at full speep, ready to headbutt the boy.  
Billy lazily drew his broadsword and struck Digitamamon with it, knocking him aside. "I suggest not trying that agian or I'll end up killing you." Digitamamon glared at Billy with hatred.  
"What do you want in return for your assistance?" Vademon asked.  
"I want the rights to buy the digidestined," He replied. "Unharmed. You won't be able to get revenge on Duane like you want, but you'll be able to become richer than your wildest dreams because you'll have free reign here. You'll be able to capture and sell whatever you feel like with Moosemon out of the way."  
Vademon thought for a moment and then said, "Very well. You have a deal." The two of them shook hands on it and Billy walked off.  
xxxxxxxxxxx  
"Wake up children," a deep and calm voice sounded in their ears. "Wake up, you're safe now."  
Brian opened his eyes and sat up. Looking around, he could quickly tell that they were not at the place they had set up camp the night before. The clearing they were in was far more beautiful to begin with. There was a small waterfall that came down the rock wall like velvet into a clear pool and then snaked off into the forest as a pure stream. The grass was soft and green and the trees were the healthiest that he had ever seen. The sky above was bright and blue and the air was fresh. The other Tamers and their digimon were waking up around him and were making the same connections.  
"Hey! Where are we?" they asked.  
"Welcome, childrem, to Centarumon's Grove," the voice from before said. They looked in the direction that it had come from. In the middle of the grove was the large elk creature from before. His clean, white fur glistened in the sunlight as his blue mane ruffled in the wind. Atop his head sat two large, blue antlers. He was covered in blue markings.  
"You're the one who saved us from the fire," Gabbie said. "Thank you."  
"Do not worry about it. The important thing is that you are safe now. Please, drink from the pool. You will feel much better." He motioned towards the water with his head. The Tamers slowly stood up and made their way to the pool and drank until they couldn't drink anymore. The digimon was right, they did feel much better.  
"Where are we?" Brian asked him, sitting back down.  
"As I told you before, you are at Centarumon's Grove," The elk said.  
"And you must be Centarumon?" Duane asked.  
"No, Centarumon was my mentor before he died. My name is Moosemon, and I have taken the responsibility of protecting this forest and the innocents that live here."  
"Why did you bring us here?" Hope asked.  
"There are digimon out there who would do you harm," Moosemon informed them. "It was they who started the fire and they who would have killed you as you slept had I not intervened."  
The Tamers exchanged glances of discomfort at the thought of dying in their sleep. "Who are they?" Christina asked.  
"A group of slavers who I allow to remove the more harmful creatures from this place."  
"You allow digimon to take the creatures from this forest and sell them into slavery?" Hope was incredulous. "Some protector you are!"  
"Hope, calm down!" Brian put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he has a good explantion for this."  
"No, she's quite forgiven." Moosemon bowed his head in inward dissapointment. "I have thought many the same things about myself. The slavers came here after the first eight chosen children rid the world of Myotismon and then the Dark Masters. They had lost everything and the slave trade was all they had left. Vademon is the only one that is truly evil. He once had a run in with the Weilder of Knowledge and was banished to the Dark Area. He's had a sore spot ever since. After the sudden decrease in population that was the result of the digidestine killing so many evil digimon, Digitamamon's restaraunt began losing its business. With no more money coming in, he had to close the restaraunt. Minotarumon, was a veteran of the war. All he knows is fighting and violence. With no more wars to fight he went from bar to bar, getting drunk and causing problems. When the other two found him he was near death in and alleyway somewhere back on the mainland.  
"After the Wastes began appearing, they heard of an island that still had life on it and they quickly went to investigate. When they got here, they found monsters that they had never encountered before. They figured that they could sell the creatures to others in order to make their living. They met with Centarumon who did what he could to protect the citizens of the forest. They defeated and killed him easily. I told them that I had the power to destroy them if they did not back down. It was a fib, and one that I could not back up in any way. Filled with uncertainty, we struck a deal that they could only send the dangerous monsters into slavery. It was the best I could do since i am not strong enough to fight them. If ever they found out that I can't hurt them, well, I don't want to think about that."  
"I see," Hope said, satisfied with the answer.  
"That's so sad," Gabbie exclaimed.  
"I think we are all in agreement when I say how can we help?" Brian told him. The others quickly agreed.  
"You guys would really do that for me?"  
"Yeah of course!" Duane told him. "We can't just let these guys do whatever they want here!"  
Suddenly, some nearby bushes began to rustle as a small digimon came rushing out. "Yay! Are we going out on an adventure, master?"  
"No, Hyokomon," Moosemon said sternly. "You must stay here. It's much too dangerous."  
Hyokomon came to stop in front of Moosemon and bowed his head in disappointment. He was a small, yellow chicken who was still partially concealed in his egg. His hair was tied back and a small sword was sheathed behind him, over his shoulder. "But master! I can do it! I'm strong, too!"  
"Hyokomon," Hope said. "Moosemon is right. You should stay here. It is too dangerous."  
"Don't worry," Brian assured him. "We'll all be right back before you know it!"  
"Oh, alright, I suppose," Hyokomon said a little sadly. "But then you have to tell me all about it! Okay?"  
The digidestined then filed out into the forest, leaving Moosemon and Hyokomon alone in the Grove. "I wish you luck, Tamers," Moosemon said quietly as they left.  
"They won't need it," a voice said from near the pool.  
Moosemon turned around and exclaimed, "Who are you?"  
"My name is Billy," the boy said as he drew his DigiBlade from his scabbard slung across his back. He held it up, pointing it towards Moosemon. "Not that it matters. I'm going to kill you now."  
"Run Hyokomon! Horn Blade!" Moosemon yelled as he charged at Billy.  
"I can help you fight though!" Hyokomon said as he drew his own sword.  
"No!" Moosemon commanded as Billy easily dodged his attack. "Leave! Go! Run! Save yourself and find the humans! Do as your master commands!" Hyokomon hesitated and then ran off into the forest after the Tamers.  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


	32. The Slavers

The Tamers hadn't walked for more than an hour before they found the ambush. Brian and the others skidded to a stop as they were greeted by the three slavers. Vademon, Digitamamon, and Minotarumon all stepped out and circled around them. Vademon chuckled and said, "Yes, you are all very fine specimens, aren't you? You will make us rich I imagine." He turned to Duane and then asked, "Do you remember me, Izzy?"

"Uh, I think you have the wrong Tamer," Duane informed him. "Let's get him Leomon!"

The rookie digimon all digivolved to champion. Greymon, Gatomon, Leomon, Dobermon, and Lekismon all stepped up in front of their Tamers and took battle stances. "Brian, we've never gone up against this many ultimate levels before," Greymon reminded him.

"That doesn't matter!" Brian said back. "We'll win anyway!"

Greymon nodded and yelled, "Nova Blast!" The fireball flew out towards the nearest opponent and engulfed Minotarumon. The other digimon were soon unleashing their attacks as well. Lekismon joined Greymon in the fight against Minotarumon while Gatomon and Dobermon were tag teaming Digitamamon. Duane and Leomon stood against Vademon.

"Fist of the Beast King!" Leomon yelled, throwing his fist at the alien. Vademon dodged the flaming lion head and retaliated with his own Alien Ray attack. The blast from the ray gun struck Leomon right in the chest and sent him flying against a thick tree which snapped in half. Leomon pulled himself from the debris and quickly charged at Vademon. He drew his sword and slashed at the alien.

Vademon, who had no bones in his body, bent backwards in disgusting limbo fashion and said, "Not quite that easily! Alien Ray!" The ray blaster hit Leomon in the knees and knocked his feet out from underneath him. The lion king slammed down into the ground face first.

"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon yelled as she struck Digitamamon. He stumbled a little, but was otherwise unharmed.

"Black Beam!" The ray of darkness shot out from Dobermon's open mouth and ricoched off of Digitamamon's shell. "Our attacks aren't working!"

"Well, of course they aren't!" Digitamamon exclaimed. "You can't hurt me so long as I have my shell!" The open space showing his golden eyes closed and his dragon legs were sucked back up into the shell. Digitamamon then began to roll towards them at full speed. Gatomon and Dobermon were just barely able to dodge him as he passed right between them. "You can't run that easily!" the egg digimon said as he turned around and began charging again, this time running right into Gatomon.

"No! Gatomon!" Hope cried as she summoned her DigiBlade. She started to go over to her partner but felt a hand on her should that stopped her from moving. She turned around and saw Brian.

"We'll just be in the way," he told her. "We have to stay out of this one."

"But I..."

"Hope, there is too much going on out there," Brian continued. "Gatomon wouldn't want you to get hurt. We have to stay put and trust our digimon. Don't worry; they can take care of themselves." He flashed her a reassuring smile, although he wasn't so assured himself. He hoped that it would suffice anyway though.

She looked at Gatomon who had by this time stood up and began working with Dobermon to stop Digitamamon. "Okay, we'll sit this one out for now."

Digitamamon stopped rolling around and came back out of his shell, a little dizzy. After he ragained his balance, he yelled, "Nightmare Syndrome!" a large beam of black energy come out of his eye opening and shot out towards Dobermon.

"Black Beam!" he countered. The two attacks met in the middle. Both digimon kept funneling more and more energy into the attacks, trying to push the other's back.

Gatomon say her opening and attacked with her Lightning Paw. Even though the attack didn't do any damage as it struck the hard shell, it still managed to distract the creature long enough for Dobermon to gain the upper hand.

"Ah!" Digitamamon screamed as Dobermon's Black Beam entered the shell and hit him in the face. "My eyes! You will pay for that, you mutt! Swing Egg!" and a barrage of egg-like projectiles flew from the opening and struck Dobermon and the area around him, exploding on contact.

"Demon Arm!" Mintarumon yelled as he struck Greymon hard in the stomach with the earthquake machine on his left arm. He laughed as he yelled, "You like that, eh, dino?"

Greymon roared his pain and blew fire out of his mouth, but the attack was weak and barely managed to warm the enemy's thick skin. Lekismon leaped up into the air and fired an arrow of ice aimed at Minotarumon's back. The minotaur grabbed Greymon by the horn and lifted him into the air, throwing him into the arrow and into Lekismon. The two digimon flew through the air and crashed into the trees beyond, smashing several of them and eventually skidding to a halt. Minotarumon was on top of them before they managed to pull themselves out of the shattered wood and grabbed Lekismon by the head. He then repeatedly smashed her into a nearby tree.

Greymon stood up and yelled, "Nova Blast!" launching a fearsome fireball in Minotarumon's direction. Too slow to be able to dodge the attack, the bull digimon was forced to weather it. He dropped Lekismon on the ground and she rolled out of the way as quickly as possible. The fire engulfed Minotarumon and singed his fur.

He turned around and laughed. "Is that the best that you can do? Pathetic! I thought you kids were supposed to be the chosen children! Ha! What a laugh!"

Meanwhile, Vademon had picked up Leomon by his mane and was slamming his face down into the earth. "And now, Wielder of Knowledge," Vademon said to Duane as he held his blaster to Leomon's head. "Any last words before I kill your pet?"

Duane looked towards Brian and noticed that he was too engulfed in Greymon's battle to see what was happening. The boy hesitated for a moment, but deep down he knew what he had to do. He summoned his halberd and said, "Just this: Leomon! Digivolve!" he rushed towards Vademon in an attempt to strike the alien. Vademon quickly removed his blaster from Leomon's head and pointed it at Duane.

Leomon quickly took his opportunity and elbowed Vademon in the chest, knocking the alien off of his back and down to the ground. Duane's digivice glowed a bright purple and soon GrapLeomon was dashing around the battle field, throwing punches and kicks at Vademon. "Yeah! Go GrapLeomon!" Duane yelled. His jubilance was too soon however since Vademon had managed to grab GrapLeomon's arms and legs and pin him to the ground.

"Even at the ultimate level you aren't powerful enough to defeat me!" Vademon exclaimed as he laughed. "Your power is pathetic! Some chosen digimon you are!"

Duane swung the DigiBlade on a circle so as to get as much power behind it as possible. The edge struck Vademon in the side and sent him flying. "Don't hurt my friend!"

Finally seeing what was going on, Brian turned to the girls and said, "I think it's about time we stepped in a little. Let's digivolve!" The others quickly agreed and Brian, Hope, and Christina summoned their DigiBlades and ran over to their sides of their digimon, Gabbie in tow behind.

Digitamamon had sunk back into his shell and was rolling around again, trying to strike his opponents. "Hey!" Gabbie exclaimed. "I have an idea! Last time he did this he got really dizzy when he came out. You guys just have to wait until he comes back out and then you attack his eyes! That's his weak point isn't it?"

Angewomon and Dobermon exchanged glances of agreement and did what they could to bring Digitamamon to a stop. "Gray Noise!" Dobermon yelled in an attempt to disrupt Digitamamon's data. Meanwhile, Angewomon was shooting Celestial Arrows in his path, hoping to slow him down. They were finally able to herd him into a tree where he crashed an emerged from his egg, dizzy and stumbling.

"Celestial Arrow!"

"Black Beam!" The attacks both hit Digitamamon right in his eyes and he toppled over backwards, a stream of smoke rising up from the opening.

"Giga Blaster!" MetalGreymon yelled as his chest plates opened up and the missels rocketed out towards Minotarumon. The bull quickly used his Demon Arm attack on a tree next to him and made it collapse, blocking the missels with a loud explosion. The force of the blast shattered the tree into splinters. Before the smoke could clear, MetalGreymon had surprised Minotarumon by attacking with his metal clad Trident Arm. Minotarumon was sent flying. Like a batter stepping up to home plate, Crescemon swung her pendulum-like Nueva Luna weapon and struck the beast in the back, making him land against a large rock, which shattered on impact.

Minotarumon extended his earthquake making arm into the air from beneath the rubble and used it to climb out. MetalGreymon and Crescemon positioned themselves a few yards away. "I'll teach you to mess with me!" the bull cried as he pulled his head above the rock. "Dark Side Quake!" He slammed his metal covered arm into the ground. The ensuing earthquake rocked everything around. The gorund split apart in several places and trees fell over. Rock jutted upward underneath the two digimon, causing massive damage to them. Minotarumon laughed maniacally and said, "I'll kill us all if I have to!"

The ground cracked and parted in front of MetalGreymon. Without even thinking, he wedged his Trident Arm into it. The ground cracked and split even further than it was already. The crack stretched itself all the way over to where Minotarumon stood, and opened up beneath him. He screamed as he fell down into the dark abyss below. The battle had seemed to be over.

The partner digimon grabbed the two remaining enemies, Vademon and Digitamamon, and tied them up sitting back to back. "You do realize that this is your fault," Vademon mumbled to Digitamamon.

"My fault?" Digitamamon asked incredulously. "How is this my fault?"

Suddenly, Hyokomon tumbled into the clearing and fell over. "Hyokomon!" Gabbie exclaimed. "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to stay at the grove with Moosemon?"

Hyokomon stood back up and rushed over to hide behind Gabbie's leg. "It's terrible! A boy came to the grove and he fought with Moosemon! I don't know what to do!"

The digidestined exchanged looks of worry as Billy's name floated through all of their heads. "Gabbie, Duane," Brian addressed the two of them. "I want you guys to stay here with these guys. Hope, Christina, and I will go back to the Grove to help out Moosemon. C'mon, MetalGreymon. Let's go."

"Oh, I don't think that will be necessary," Billy's voice came. Everybody looked up into the tree where the boy stood on a branch leaned against the trunk. Beside him sat a digimon who looked like a marionette. "Moosemon is dead. I have killed him. Now, Tamers, I offer you the chance to surrender and join me."

"Never!" Brian cried.

"Too bad, Brian," Billy said, shaking his head. "You're actually the only one I wasn't offering that too." He laughed loudly and then pulled out his black digivice. "Now, Vademon! Digitamamon! Dark Digivolve!"

The screen of his digivice began to glow a demonic red color and the two bound digimon were surrounded by a dark aura. Their bodies began to morph and warp as they digivolved through an unholy process. Vademon became covered in metal and his large brain was replaced with a CPU which governed his thoughts. His ray blaster was replaced by a large plasma rifle attached to his now mechanical body.

Digitamamon's green skin turned a sick brown color and two arms burst through the shell covering. Out of his back sprouted two wings and a large head with a gaping mouth with more eyes than what was required pushed through the front opening.

"Ebemon." the mechanical version of Vademon said, emotionless.

"Devitamamon!" the other cried. The two of them burst out of their ropes and stood up.

Billy began to laugh victoriously. "I did it! I digivolved them to the mega level! Show me your power now, Brian! You will die today!"

"He digivolved past ultimate!" Hope exclaimed.

"That's possible?" Duane cried.

"What does it matter if it's possible or not?" Brian retorted angrily. "He did it didn't he? MetalGreymon! We have to fight the digimon!"

"Giga Blaster!" MetalGreymon yelled. The missiles flew out of his chest and hurtled towards the megas. With speed greater than any digimon they had yet seen, Devitamamon leaped over the oncoming missiles and grabbed them out of midair. Before he even hit the ground, he sent them hurtling back towards MetalGreymon. The giant dinosaur hadn't expected that and couldn't react in time. His own attack struck him in the chest and sent him toppling over backwards.

"Black Beam!" Dobermon yelled. The dark energy struck Devitamamon but was too weak to have any affect at all.

Ebemon robotically turned towards the dog digimon and said with a synthesized voice, "Planet Destroyer." The barrel of his rifle was lowered in Dobermon's direction and fired. The blast was so huge that it left a ditch where the blast grazed the ground during its travel to the dog digimon. It struck Dobermon's side and sent him flying.

"Dobermon!" Gabbie cried, running to his side. She knelt beside him and stroked behind his ear. "Dobermon, please don't fight in this battle. I'm not strong enough to lose you!"

"Strength?" Hyokomon said. He had rushed over with Gabbie and now stood beside her. The battle between the megas and the ultimates raged on beside them. Angewomon sent a few Celestial Arrows which hit the enemies. They were able to retaliate with attacks of their own, though. GrapLeomon was dodging the attacks with his speed, but only barely outmatched the megas and couldn't send off any attacks of his own without getting hit. Crescemon did her best to fire arrows of ice into the fray to at least slow Devitamamon and Ebemon down. "I know where you can find more strength! Come with me! I'll show you!"

Gabbie and Dobermon were a little unsure about leaving their friends behind in the middle of a battle, but they weren't any use to them there anyway. "Yeah, I'll go with you." Gabbie told Hyokomon. "We're just getting in the way here. Let's go Dobermon." The three of them stood up and snuck away into the forest without anyone noticing.


	33. Yin and Yang

Three Thousand Digi-Years Prior to the Events of Digimon: Light

It was dark. Very dark. However, if anybody had stood at the shores of the island, Num Key, they would have been able to make out the glimmering form walking across the ocean. The digimon glowed with an aura of the purest light as she silently glided over the waves. With each step she planted the butt of her staff firmly into the surface of the water as if it were solid. Each time, the different rings ornamenting it rattled and chimed together. She was a tall humanoid and wore golden armour. The helmet she wore was shaped like the head of a fox and the hair that flowed from the back of it was tied behind her so as to look like the tail of a fox.

She reached the shoreline and her boots sunk into the wet sand. She looked around for any sign of onlookers. Deciding that she was alone, she walked into the forest in search of her quarry. The Dark Area digimon do not belong here in the Digital World and it was her job to hunt them down and either take them back or kill them. She would do anything to stop these abominations.

From her belt she took a set of four pipes. She brought the instrument to her lips and softly blew into them. The sound that came out of each pipe was beautiful and well practiced, and somehow eager to be heard. As each pipe was blown, the sound that was produced also carried with it a unique spirit. Finished with her song, she placed the pipes back onto her belt. Before her stood the four kuda-gitsune spirits. They were ethereal creatures and each one had mastered a different element, one of fire, water, wind, and thunder.

"Go, my pets." Sakuyamon addressed them. "Find for me he who we search for. Find me the creature who so surely belongs in the Dark Area. Find me SkullSatamon." The four spirits had run off deeper into the forest before she had finished speaking.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Present Day

"Giga Blaster!" the chest plates once again opened up and missels flew directly at the mechanical alien, Ebemon. The two missels struck the enemy, who was blasted back. Ebemon flew into the air and landed hard on the ground, leaving behind a crater. Devitamamon was quick to jump onto MetalGreymon's back and begin to savagely claw at the dinosaur's neck.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon's voice rang just before an arrow of light pierced the mega level digimon. Devitamamon landed in the dirt with a thud.

Ebemon had risen once again, only to find that he was opposed by Crescemon and GrapLeomon. "Planet Destroyer." His emotionless voice spoke. He pointed the mighty rifle at the two and fired it. The huge blast hit them both and left them sprawled out on the ground. Still laying on the ground, Crescemon managed to fire an arrow of ice at the alien machine. The ice lodged itself inside the barrel of the gun. Meanwhile, GrapLeomon had stood back up and rushed behind Ebemon with lightning speed and hit him in the back with a powerful punch. He flew straight forward towards Crescemon. She held up her Nova Luna weapon and held her ground as firmly as she could as the machine digimon collided with the edge.

Thrusting his Trident Arm forward, MetalGreymon's machine arm smashed down into the ground where Devitamamon once stood. The egg digimon managed to jump out of the way just in time. "Laser Eyes!" he yelled in a rasping voice that sounded very inhuman. Each of his many eyes began to glow red and a burst of energy shot out from them. The collective beams struck MetalGreymon in the metal face plate and caused him to recoil. The beams were intense enough for him to feel the heat through his armor.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon yelled again, summoning her arrows of light and firing several at Devitamamon, who dodged them like a skilled acrobat. Blinded by pain, MetalGreymon fired his Giga Blaster attack at random. With no target having been aimed at, the missiles zoomed around the battle field. Devitamamon took advantage of this and grabbed one out of midair. He turned around and threw it back at Angewomon. She tried to block it with a Celestial Arrow attack but was too late. The missal collided with her and sent her flying. She fell to the earth and hit the ground hard. She bounced twice before coming to a skidding halt.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Are we there yet, Hyokomon?" Gabbie asked.

"Almost! Just a little farther!" the young samurai replied.

"You said that awhile ago," Dobermon informed him.

"I mean it this time!"

Hyokomon had led them through the forest to the base of a mountain called Mount Shift and they had spent a good chunk of valuable time scaling the side. The little digimon had obviously been this way many times before as he was moving swiftly up the side of the mountain with ease. Dobermon had some difficulty but eventually learned that it was faster to use his powerful muscles to jump from ledge to ledge rather than try climbing. Gabbie took up the rear. She clumsily climbed across the rocks and boulders trying to catch up with the others.

"C'mon guys! Just a little bit more! It's right up ahead!"

Gabbie reached up to another handhold and gripped it hard. As she pulled her weight up, the rock came out of its place in the wall. She lost her balance and fell. "Dobermon!" she cried. Quick as lightning, Dobermon bounded after her jumping from ledge to ledge with the accuracy and agility of the most seasoned of acrobats. His powerful jaws clenched shut on her shirt before she fell much farther. Surprised and shocked, she opened her eyes to see that her feet were dangling just above a large boulder. 'Dangling just above death!' she though. The boulder would have surely killed her had she hit it.

Through a mouth full of Gabbie's shirt, Dobermon grunted, "You're safe now, Gabbie. I've got you." He pulled her back up and set her down on the rock he stood on, as far away from the edge as possible.

"Thank you, Dobermon!" she exclaimed as he did this.

"Don't worry about it," he said back. "I don't know what I'd do without you." A smile shone on his dog-like face. Gabbie smiled back.

"Hurry up, guys! We have to hurry! Quick! Quick!" Hyokomon called down. He was very far ahead of them by this time. Dobermon sighed and the two began their ascent again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The battle in the forest raged on. The remaining missel from MetalGreymon continued to whiz around the battle. It eventually landed right next to Ebemon and exploded. The ensuing blast caught both of the megas plus GrapLeomon and Crescemon. Angewomon had risen back into the air before this and was raining down her arrows of light. There was so much confusion that she couldn't hit anything useful. It was then that her eyes glided over to Billy, who still stood in the tree with the marionette digimon. "Celestial Arrow!" she yelled. Her attack flew far and true at the unsuspecting boy.

The digimon saw the attack however, and stood up. "Puppet Pummel!" he yelled as he swung his hammer upward and hit the arrow. He glared at Angewomon and sat back down.

'Why isn't he fighting?' Angewomon thought. She glared back at him and then went back to the battle against the megas.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Three Thousand Digi-Years Prior to the Events of Digimon: Light

The kuda-gitsune ravaged the forest with their power. They did not care if the forest was destroyed by the fires they caused, or if other digimon drowned by the rising floods and the hurricane winds. All they wanted was SkullSatamon, like their master asked. Sakuyamon silently followed the path of destruction, keeping an eye out for her bounty. Ash and smoke filled the air. All around her the forest was on fire. The rain did nothing to help as the lightning came down from the clouds to start the blaze anew again.

The digimon of the forest were dying. The spirits continued to run around, looking, searching, but they did not find SkullSatamon. Sakuyamon stood at the base of a chared and blackened tree. The ground had been wiped clean of any shrubs and all that remained was a thick coat of ash.

"Skull Hammer!" a voice yelled. SkullSatamon jumped out from behind a tree and attempted to strike Sakuyamon in the back. With unmatched agility, she smacked him across the face with her staff and pinned him to a tree in one quick motion. "I'm not going back to the Dark Area! I don't want to go there! It's a bad place!"

"I don't care." Sakuyamon pushed the staff flat against his chest, crushing him beneath her strength. The other digimon screamed in pain until...

SkullSatamon fell to the ground and looked around. Sakuyamon was gone. He stood up all the way and a smile flashed across his face. He started to happily laugh at his salvation. "Fox Drive!" Sakuyamon's voice range from above, wiping the smile from the other's face. Blue flames surrounded SkullSatamon as Sakuyamon came down from the air and struck him with her staff. The combined attacks destroyed him. His scream echoed in the silence as the fires and the storms died down. The four spirits returned to the pipes on her belt and she turned around to leave.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Present Day

Devitamamon was quick and ran circles around the much slower MetalGreymon who tried repeatedly to strike the opponent with his heavy Trident Arm. The creature climbed up to the back of MetalGreymon's neck once again and attacked his spinal cord with a Laser Eyes attack. The powerful beams seared into the great dinosaur and caused him to roar in pain. Angewomon flew as fast as she could to his aid and threw a punch at Devitamamon. The beastly egg grabbed a hold of Angewomon's arm and smashed her into MetalGreymon's thick head piece. MetalGreymon fell over underneath the blow and toppled onto the soft grass below.

Ebemon was like-wise subduing his resistance. The blast from MetalGreymon's missal had melted away the ice in his rifle barrel and he began firing off shots at GrapLeomon and Crescemon. Both dodged them as best as they could, but Ebemon had the precision of a machine and it did not take him long to start doing damage. GrapLeomon's speed allowed him to zoom around at speeds to rival that of sound and he was hard to see. A well aimed shot struck him in the shoulder and the force turned him completely around. GrapLeomon lost balance and spun out into a tree. The force of the collision splintered the tree and caused it to fall over.

Crescemon was relying more on acrobatics than speed to dodge Ebemon's blasts. She jumped from tree branch to tree branch, almost flying through the air doing flips and summersaults. She fired arrows of both ice and darkness whenever she had the chance and a good shot. As she jumped off of a branch attempting to reach the next one over, Ebemon's gun fire struck her in the stomach. The pain distracted her and she missed her mark. Crescemon collided with the branch that she had aimed for and fell down to the ground. All of the partner digimon reverted to their weaker forms. Koromon, Salamon, Elecmon, and Moonmon all lay defeated in the dirt.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dobermon had stuck closer to Gabbie since her fall. He had made an effort to trail behind her so as to make it easier to catch her if she fell again. Luckily, no such incident happened and they made it to their destination. With Dobermon pushing her up with his head, Gabbie climbed up onto the last ledge. She turned around to help Dobermon up as well only to see him leap high up over her head and land several feet behind her.

"Well, it's about time!" Hyokomon said when they were both up. "C'mon! We're here! Check this out!"

"Oh my," Gabbie said, slightly shocked at what Hyokomon had taken them to. Behind the small chick was a huge rock wall, and engraved on the wall was a painted symbol. "How did you know of this, Hyokomon?"

"My master, Moosemon told me of it," there was a hint of pain as Hyokomon spoke his dead master's name. "He told me that if ever I should need strength, to come here and meditate. He said that this is a very powerful symbol and that through the meditation, he was able to digivolve to be strong."

"Hyokomon, we don't have the time to meditate." Dobermon sighed and then asked of is Tamer, "You know this symbol?"

Gabbie nodded as her excitement sank in. This symbol was her favorite. "It's a Yin and Yang symbol!" She quickly ran over to the wall and put her hands up to the giant black and white picture. It was about four feet in diamater and it was a perfect circle. The right side was black, and the left was white. Each color had a small circle of the opposite color inside it. "Yin and Yang represent perfect balance- opposites interacting with each other. Basically they are two sides of the same coin." As she said this she ran her fingers around the whole thing. "Neither Yin nor Yang is better than the other. They are different, but equal. Evil is a result of an imbalance in either Yin or Yang. You need both sides of the coin to be whole." She ran her hand over to the white half. "This is yang. Yang represents light, fire, the sun, hot, and life." She then ran her hands over to the black half. "This is Yang. It is the opposite of Yin in every way. Yin represents dark, water, the moon, cold, and death."

"I have an imbalance," Dobermon said quietly.

"What?" Gabbie asked, somewhat shocked. Hyokomon listened in awed silence.

"I have more Yin than Yang. I am a virus." The dog digimon frowned. Gabbie stared at him with concern. He certainly looked evil. There was no doubting that.

Gabbie walked over to his side. "Dobermon, you're the best friend I could ever ask for. I've never asked you what your past was like because you asked me not to. But that's ok because I don't care. You are who you are. Not who you were. Your balance is fine, even if you do have a little more Yin than Yang."

"I seem to have a lot more Yin than necessary."

"Yin is my favorite of the two, you know." She looked at him with a smile. Dobermon returned the smile, but was not able to say anything as the ground began to sake and rumble.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Three Thousand Digi-Years Prior to the Events of Digimon: Light

SkullSatamon was dead. Sentenced back to an eternity in the Dark Area. Her work was finished and she no longer had any reason to stay. She did not get very far however.

"Stop!" a booming voice rang down from he sky.

Sakuyamon turned around to face who had spoken. Appearing in the clouds was a digimon that she had never seen before. One that she could sense had a vast amount of power. "Who are you to command me? I am the demon hunter of the gods!"

"You are an insect in the grand scheme of things," The other digimon replied. He was a large tiger with four eyes. Over his face was thick, blue armor. His fur was mostly white except for blue stripes. On each of his four legs he wore bracers; the front ones had Japanese writing on them. "I am Baihumon!" his voice boomed. The clouds swirled around him menacingly in the sky. Lightning continued to dance around him, licking his features but at the same time, almost seeming afraid to go near a creature of such massive power. "I am the Digimon Sovereign of the West! You have disrupted the balance of the forest here! Why have you done so?"

"I will stop at nothing to rid the world of evil," she replied curtly.

"And in the process of doing so you have lost your own light! How can you claim to be a protector of all that is good and just if you yourself are neither? You have killed many digimon to reach your goal here. Many were injured. The forest is destroyed and it will take many years to restore it. You have failed in your attempts to do good and have instead sunk into the realm of evil!"

"You speak of matters that you do not know of!" she yelled shrilly. "I do what must be done!"

"I am through with you," Baihumon told her. "You are stubborn and will not listen to reason. You will suffer for eternity to redeem yourself." The Digimon Sovereign began summoning his power. Sensing this, Sakuyamon turned to run. "Gold Strength!" Baihumon yelled. He opened his mouth and a wave of golden light was emitted. The wave struck Sakuyamon and she was instantly turned to metal. "You will cause the suffering of digimon no longer." Baihumon then disappeared back into the clouds.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Present Day

The symbol on the door began to glow and a crack appeared down the middle. The wall began to open up. A frightened Hyokomon rushed over to stand behind Gabbie. Dobermon bowed his head, ready to attack. The wall stopped moving and revealed a dark cave behind it. It was so dark that they could not see inside. Gabbie took a few steps forward. "No! Gabbie don't!" Dobermon cried. "It could be dangerous!"

"Then come with me. I'm going in."

Dobermon was at a loss for words, but succumbed to his friend's wishes. The two walked in together, leaving the terrified Hyokomon to stay outside. The cave was just as dark inside as it was from out. Looking it took a little while for their eyes to adjust. Using her digivice as a light, she was able to make out that they were in a medium sized room with a circular shape. The Yin and Yang symbol was painted on the floor. In the center of the room was a large statue. It looked to Gabbie as if the statue was of a woman who dressed up like a fox.

"I think this is a statue of Sakuyamon," Dobermon told her. "There are legends about her, that she was a great bounty hunter. She went all over the world sending bad digimon to the Dark Area. She disappeared one day and nobody ever saw her again. It's odd that there would be a statue of her on this island though."

Gabbie stood in front of the statue and touched her face. She was made of a rusted metal and had long since lost any shine. The metal was cold and lifeless. When she touched it, Gabbie could almost feel that there was more to the statue than what she could see. Then something unexpected happened. The statue began to glow a very pure light. "Gabbie! Get away!" Dobermon yelled.

She shielded her eyes until the light was gone. When she opened her eyes again and put her arms down, the statue of Sakuyamon was no longer a statue. She was now a living, breathing digimon. "Who are you, child?" the tall digimon asked.

"Gabbie," the girl hesitated. She wasn't sure what to make of these events.

"How did you free me?"

"I- I don't know," Gabbie admitted.

"The power I sense in you... You must be a digidestined! Only a digidestined would have the power to break a curse like that one!" Sakuyamon dropped to her knees and bowed to Gabbie. "I am you servant, great protector!"

"Hey!" Dobermon barked. "Gabbie already has a partner!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to step on any toes." Sakuyamon stood back up.

"Forget about it," Dobermon told her, irritated. "How'd you get like that anyway?"

"The how is not important. Just know that I did something bad and have regretted it ever since. I now only seek repentance. You look troubled, girl. How can I help you?"

"Please, Sakuyamon. My friends are down in the forest fighting very powerful digimon. Dobermon and I aren't strong enough to help them. But you are, aren't you? Will you please help them?"

Sakuyamon nodded and bolted out of the room. Gabbie and Dobermon rushed after her, grabbing Hyokomon on the way.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"You have been defeated, 'digidestined'," Billy taunted. "I will give you one last chance to join me. Hope, please be reasonable. We could live great lives together, you and I. Duane, Christina; don't you want to be reunited with your friend, Tyler? And Gabbie, we're friends aren't we? Wait," a look of surprise shot across Billy's face. "Where's Gabbie?"

"Amethyest Mandala!" Sakuyamon yelled as she ran onto the battlefield. A barrier of white light appeared around her and expanded. It engulfed the two mega digimon and exercised the evil out of them. Devitamamon and Ebemon dedigivolved to Digitamamon and Vademon once again.

Digitamamon grunted as he sat up. "What happened? I feel sick."

"Oh, me too!" Vademon exclaimed. "I feel like I was it by a train."

"I'm right here," Gabbie said as she, Dobermon, and Hyokomon walked into the battle field behind Sakuyamon.

"You'll pay for that," Billy said to Sakuyamon. "Go, Puppetmon!"

Sakuyamon gasped, "What? A Dark Master? But how?"

The marionette digimon jumped down form his tree branch and smashed his heavy hammer into Vademon and Digitamamon, destroying them both. "C'mon, Sakuyamon," Puppetmon said. "How about we play a little game?"

"Those digimon didn't deserve to die, Puppetmon!" Sakuyamon exclaimed. "Run children! Run away! You aren't ready for a Dark Master! Run!"

"No! We'll stay and fight!" Brian yelled.

"I said go!" she turned to yell back. As she finished, Puppetmon threw the wooden cross mounted on his back and struck her hard. The cross came back like a boomarang and he caught it. "I'll hold him off! Just go!" she grunted as she stood up to face her opponent.

Brian hesitated and took a step to go to her aid, but Hope grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the forest. "She's right, Brian. Our digimon are weak, we can't fight. Let's go and live to fight another day!"

"But what about Sakuyamon?"

"She can handle herself! Let's go!" Hope told him. Brian reluctantly agreed. They scooped up their injured digimon and ran off into the forest, with Hyokomon trialing behind.

xxxxxxxxxx


	34. Retreat

"Oh, no!"

"How could this-?"

"I can't believe this..."

"What happened?"

"This is terrible!"

The digidestined had retraced their steps through the forest back to Centarumon's Grove. Their battle weary and defeated digimon were cradled in their arms as they ran. What they found at the grove was destruction. The grass had been torn up and trees had been pulled out of the ground, revealing their roots. The rock wall where the waterfall came down was blown all over the place and the water was thick with mud. Moosemon was nowhere to be found.

"That boy with the black hair came," Hyokomon sniffled. "He came and he challenged Moosemon to fight. They must have fought and the boy must've won." The little digimon couldn't handle it anymore. He broke down into tears and wailed his pain into the sky.

The girls all knelt down to comfort the small digimon. Duane looked around and saw Brian stood away from the group, standing in the center of the grove. He walked over to his friend and stood by him. Brian starred at the scene with anger and horror on his face. "Billy will pay for this," Brian said after a short time. "He will pay for everything he's done. He walks around the Digital World like he owns it. He doesn't understand that digimon are living creatures. Everywhere he goes, he leaves a path of destruction. Now he uses whatever digimon he pleases. Whoever is near enough to be useful. Those slavers weren't good digimon, but they didn't deserve what they got. Nobody deserves what Billy has to give."

"We're going to get him," Duane said. "We'll find more strength and then we'll go after him. It'll be us popping up out of nowhere and surprising him with our schemes. He will fall eventually."  
"Do you hear that, Billy?" Brian asked quietly. He then turned and yelled as loud as he could into the forest, "Do you hear that, Billy? We're going to come and get you! We will defeat you! You will pay for all of your crimes!" The others all stared at him in wonder.

"I'll help you fight him!" Hyokomon yelled through his tears. "I want to get back at Billy for killing Moosemon! He was like a father to me. Moosemon taught me everything I know, just like Centarumon did for him."

"Moosemon was weak," Billy said as he pushed his way out of the brush and into the clearing. "And you are weak as well. You five think that everything can be done if you just work together. Everything will just turn out a-okay, right? Well my digimon defeated you. Puppetmon defeated your friend, Sakuyamon. Your digimon are weak and useless. You are weak and useless. You can no longer fight me with you injured digimon. So what's it going to be? You can surrender and come with me, or you can be forced to come with me."

"Why should we go anywhere with you?" Brian asked.

"Yeah!" Duane put in. "All this time you've been trying to kill us and now you want us to come with you?"

"Oh please shut up," Billy said, putting a hand to his forehead. "I've told you already how much your voice irritates me."

"Why, I ought to," Duane started, but Hope interrupted.

"No, he's right," she said. "What's your angle?"

"Listen, beautiful," Billy said. "I want to be a part of your life, Hope. I miss having you around, Gabbie. Remember how good of friends we became? Christina, don't you want to see Tyler again? And you there, the boy who's name I never learned. What do you say we be friends?"  
"I want you out of my life," Hope said.

"I remember you lying to me," Gabbie told him.

"I want you to give Tyler his soul back!" Christina replied.

"You don't know my name?" Duane was a little hurt.

"None of us want to join you." Brian said firmly.

"I told you before, Brian. You aren't invited." Billy held out his hand and said, "Are the rest of you sure?" They nodded. "Then I suppose I'll have to kill you all."

Brian shoved Koromon into Hope's arms so that she had to hold both him and Salamon. He held out his hand and summoned his DigiBlade. "That's it!" he yelled. "Let's end this, Billy! Me and you, okay? One on one!"

"Brian!" Hope yelled.

Billy smirked and snapped his fingers. "Very well, Brian. If you want a fight, then you have one. I think you'll find that a digimon will be required for what I have in mind, however." He began to laugh as the sound of heavy footfalls came from the forest behind the dark boy. The canopy of the trees shook and rattled as several trees toppled over. Whatever was knocking them over was big and headed right for them. The trees behind Billy separated and fell over. Behind them stood a huge digimon made entirely out of a skeleton. The creature had large, skeleton wings sprouting from its back and horns from its head. It had two large fangs and walked on all fours. Behind it, a menacing tail wagged back and forth. The creature's large, red eyes stared blankly forward as it roared. It lowered its head and allowed Billy to step up onto it and seat himself on its back.  
"I would like to introduce you to my friend here," Billy said. "Its called a SkullBaluchimon and it really wants to eat. I don't suppose you have any snacks?" He roared with laughter.

"We gotta get out of here!" Duane yelled. Brian held his ground but Hope thrust Koromon back into his arms and grabbed hold of his hair, pulling him in retreat with the others. He reluctantly followed as they ran off into the forest as fast as they could. SkullBaluchimon was in pursuit with Billy on his back, brandishing his broadsword into the air. He had a large smile as he rode after the Tamers. The chosen children held onto their hurt and unconscious digimon as they ran, attempting to protect them. Dobermon stuck close to Gabbie.

"Why are you running?" Billy taunted. "Fighting was your idea, Brian! You coward!"

"What are we going to do?" Christina asked.

"All we can do is keep running," Duane told her.

"There's got to be a way to fight him!" Brian said.

Billy laughed harder. "You can't fight me! I control the Digital World! There's nowhere you're safe! Run forever if you'd like! I'll always find you!"

"Shut up!" Brian yelled. SkullBlaluchimon was gaining ground on them, bridging the distance with each step, each bound. The Tamers couldn't run forever. SkullBaluchimon weaved in and out of whatever trees he didn't blast through. It seemed as though nothing would stop the digimon's chase.

"Run! Run! He likes to catch his food!" Billy kept taunting and laughing.

"Black Beam!" Dobermon shot the attack over his should. The dark energy struck SkulBaluchimon's head and rebounded off.

"It didn't work!" Gabbie cried.

"You're too weak to fight!" Billy told her. "You don't even have a DigiBlade! You aren't a digidestined! Why are you even here? Why are you in the Digital World? You are all powerless! You are all the most worthless bunch of Tamers in two worlds!"

The Tamers stopped running immediately. They had broken through the forest and now found themselves at a sandy beach. The waves moved back and forth across the sand. "Now where do we go?" Duane asked.

"Now we fight! If we work together," He was then cut off by Hope.

"We aren't digimon! We can't fight one as powerful as SkullBaluchimon without our digimon! Get that through your thick skull!"

"But, there has to be a way!"

"There isn't, Brian!" The others said.

SkullBaluchimon and Billy broke through the forest as well and stood there, opposing the five Tamers. "There's nowhere to run now." Billy told them.

"Then we'll just have to fight!" Brian said.

Hope was quick to hit him over the head. "Moron!"

"Deadly Fear!" SkullBaluchimon said in a monstrous voice. Black vapors began to emanate from the spaces between his bones. The vapors thickened and spread out, encompassing the entire area. The darkness now surrounded the group and blocked out the sun.

"What is this?" Christian asked, frightened. The others were frightened as well and they soon stood closer together.

"Welcome to SkullBaluchimon's space!" Billy yelled. "Here, you may run forever, but you won't ever escape! You'll be chased forever until you die."

"No," Brian gasped. "This can't be the end. It just can't be. There's always a way! There has to be!"

SkullBaluchimon jumped up into the air and leaped at the group. Hope held up her hands in defense. There was a flash of light and something happened. From her hands, a beam of light flew out and struck SkullBaluchimon in the chest, knocking him back. The digimon landed on the ground and Billy hit the ground a few feet away. Her digivice began to beep and flash then, more light came from it and the darkness that surrounded them was all of a sudden dissolved into the now all-encompassing light. The light fought with the darkness until it was completely gone. When it was, the light focused itself into a beam that shot across the ocean behind them.

"What the," Brian started. It was then that his digivice began to beep and flash, as well as everybody else's. All five of them pulled out their digivices and beams of light shot out of all of them and across the ocean. The five beams of light fused together and formed what appeared to be a platform of light. "What is it?"

"It's like a bridge!" Hope exclaimed, very surprised.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Duane asked.

"Yeah, let's go!" Christina agreed.

Brian nodded and was first to step onto the bridge. The light felt solid, and that's all that he cared about. Soon the five of them were running across the light bridge with Dobermon right behind them. They were still protecting their hurt digimon in their arms.

"What?" Billy cried. "That's not possible! You can't escape the darkness!" He climbed back onto SkullBaluchimon and had him step onto the bridge. The digimon fell right thought it and into the water. They were too late. The bridge was disappearing behind the Tamers who created it. "I'll get you lot eventually," Billy warned. "I couldn't get you here on Num Key, so I'll just have to get you on the next island, Caps Key."  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So how far do you think that this bridge is, anyway?" Duane asked out loud.

"I'm sure we'll get there when we get there," Brian replied.

"Well where is there?" he asked.

"Beats me. Hopefully somewhere with hot food and a bed though!" Brian wished as he put his hands behind his head.

"That'd be awesome!" Koromon agreed happily. The digimon had woken up sometime ago and appeared to be fine despite their wounds. Koromon bounced along beside Brian. Elecmon rode on Duane's back, loosely latched around his neck. Salamon sat on top of Dobermon as he walked between Hope and Gabbie. Moonmon rode silently on top of Christina's head.

"I would love to have a hotdog!" Koromon continued. "With lots of mayonnaise, ketchup, relish, sauerkraut, chili, cheese, and honey!"

"I could really go for a cheese burger!" Brian said. "Two half pound patties of beef with lettuce, tomato, barbeque sauce, onion rings, tater tots, and shrimp, all on a sesame seed bun! Yum!" The two of them began daydreaming about eating, their mouths watering.

"If I get any drool on me, it'll be the end of you!" Hope told them.

"Yeah! Keep away from us!" Salamon said. "A lady shouldn't have to be surrounded by such beasts!"

"Lady, huh?" Brian retorted. "Not the word I would have picked."

Hope was quick to slap him for that remark. The other two girls laughed behind their hands. "I just want to get there already!" Duane complained. "My feet hurt so much!"

"Hey!" Elecmon said, pointing forward. "Look ahead! It's an island!" Sure enough, when they looked forward there was an island in the distance.

Brian pulled out the map that Captain Hookmon had given him. It showed a star shaped land mass to the southeast of Num Key, the island they had just left. "This says that the next island is called Caps Key."

"Caps, huh?" Gabbie thought. "Well, what's there at Caps?"

"I think there's a village nearby!" He exclaimed. "It's called Shoreside and it's right ahead of us, I think!"

"I get to rest my feet?" Duane cried.

"I get to eat?" Koromon cried as well.

"Maybe!" Brian told them, also with food and rest on his mind. "Let's hurry up and get there! C'mon!" The group ran the rest of the way across the light bridge. When they finally reached the shore, the bridge disappeared. "I think it's this way," Brian turned left and started walking north along the beach. The others followed him. It wasn't long before Shoreside Village came into view.


	35. Fear

The group of Tamers made their way across the sandy beach as the sun went down over the horizon and the three moons began to appear. As they neared the village, Brian and Hope began remembering the last few times they tried to just waltz into a village like this.

"Hey, guys," Hope began. "Perhaps rushing in isn't such a great idea. Before we met all of you we had a few unpleasant experiences with digimon villages."

"Oh, yeah," Brian said. "I think being hog-tied and gagged by numemon and dragged through the dessert was definitely unpleasant. Perhaps we should make camp somewhere in the forest?"

"Whoa! No way! There isn't anyway that you are going to drag me off into the forest yet again when there are beds and warm meals right in front of me!" Duane exclaimed.

"I'm not too hot about abandoning civilization either," Christina agreed. Moonmon, Lunamon's baby form, nodded her agreement from atop her Tamer's head.

"Hope and Brian know the Digital world better than any of us though," Gabbie said. "If they don't think it's safe, then it probably isn't." Dobermon nodded.

"My vote is that we take our stuff off into the forest and make camp there," Brian repeated. "That way we have time to get a good idea of what's going on in the village. We can send scouts to look everything over and see if it's safe to enter."

"You know, Duane," Elecmon spoke, "they may have a point. Perhaps it would be wiser to get an idea of what's going on."

Duane thought over all that was said. His stomach growled loudly. "Fine," he groaned. "But I get second helpings of dinner tonight!"

Brian saw something out of the corner of his eye and quickly turned his head to look as the others laughed. There was a girl there. "No, it can't be," he mumbled. "Lily?" She quietly giggled and ran off into the forest.

"Isn't that right, Brian?" Hope asked as she prodded him in the shoulder. He turned to face her with a dazed look of confusion.

"Huh?" he replied stupidly.

"I said that it's Gabbie's turn to cook, isn't that right?"

He turned back to where he saw Lily. She hadn't come back. "Yeah, that's right I think."

"You okay, Brian?" Koromon asked from his Tamer's arms.

"Yeah, I just thought I saw something over there. Never mind. It was nothing." Brian walked off into the forest to find a campsite and the others followed, a little confused.

It wasn't long before they had the entire campsite put up. They put up all of the tents and even managed to get a decent fire going, despite the wet wood lying around. Soon, the Tamers and their digimon began drifting off to their makeshift beds one by one until all that was left was Brian and Agumon.

The two of them sat by the campfire together in silence for a long time. Suddenly, Brian stood up and said, "What do you say that we go scout out the village? It will be very dark so I don't think anybody will see us. Besides, we need to get the information about the place right? Make sure that it isn't infested with enemies, you know?"

"Yeah!" Agumon agreed. "That sounds like a great idea!" With that, the two of them snuck off into the forest by themselves. When they reached the beach, Brian and Agumon hung close to the shadow of the forest and made their way to the village. They neared it and could make out a few lights coming from the buildings, but the streets and walkways seemed to be generally deserted.

A short fence surrounded the village with barbed wire hung loosely from the top. The main gate was unguarded and it wasn't hard to unlock it. Nearby stood a sign that read "Shoreside Village".

They quietly slunk into the village and began wandering its streets. It seemed to be a very normal village. The domed houses lined the streets in a seemingly random order. Some had small gardens or flowerpots out in front. Others had strange things like ATM machines sitting in front. Power line poles lined the streets on both sides.

"Huh, that's odd," Brian remarked.

"What is?" Agumon whispered back.

"Well, in my world, power line poles like those hold up electrical lines. The electrical lines have electricity flowing through them. The electricity flows to wherever energy is needed. But the power lines poles here don't have any electrical lines. No cords at all. It's just the pole."

"Oh, I see," by the look on his face, Agumon clearly didn't understand.

"Never mind," Brian said. "Let's just keep moving."

"You have much trouble in your head!" a voice laughed from the shadows. A digimon walked out of the darkness and stood in front of them. "Me sense much darkness troubling your heart!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Brian told him. "Who are you anyway?"

"Me? Me is all that is left!" The monkey replied. "Or, maybe me is all that ever was! Who knows? Do you? I know you! You are a baboon!" The digimon let out a boom of laughter.

"You're insane," Brian said.

"Brian, that is Sepikmon," Agumon told him. "He is a champion level wizard digimon who wields the Spirit Boomerang. He is said to be the wise man with few friends.

"That's great. What does he want with me?"

"You loose many battles of late," Sepikmon spoke, inching closer. "Very important to you. You no can protect loved ones. Dark boy haunt you. Dark boy better Tamer than you. Dark boy chase you everywhere and take pretty girl from you. You give pretty girl your heart if she take it."

"What're you talking about?" Brian demanded. "What do you know about Lily? Or the dark boy? What do you know about me? You don't know anything!"

Sepikmon threw his arms up into the air and danced around. He then tossed the Spirit Boomerang, which struck Brian in the head. "Ouch! Why you!" Brian yelled. Sepikmon shrieked and ran off into the darkness. "Hey! You get back here!" Brian ran off after him.

He chased the digimon through the streets, weaving around the buildings. Sepikmon ran across the tops of the buildings, jumping from one to the next. Suddenly, he wasn't the only Sepikmon. Many more showed up and ran along the tops of the buildings as well. They all turned their heads towards Brian as they ran. "You follow me now. You come now. You find secrets!" they all spoke in unison, as if the voices all belonged to one body.

They sped off ahead of Brian and all stopped at one of the domed buildings. The Tamer slowed to a stop and watched as the Sepikmon seemed to fuse together and glide backwards through the door that burst open.

Brian hesitated before slowing stepping through the door himself. It was completely dark inside. Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind him. Brian jumped at the sound. Plunged in total darkness, he began to become afraid. He heard the sound of a flame catch and then light flooded the room.

The inside wasn't at all what he had expected. It looked more like a hallway than a room and stretched on farther than his eye could see. The walls, floor, and ceiling were completely white. He rubbed his eyes, thinking that he had gone crazy. When he opened them up again, he blinked several times. Opening them for the last time, he suddenly saw Gennai standing in front of him. Brian jumped again. "You! What are you doing here?"

"You suffer Brian." Gennai spoke with a very calm voice, strong and frightening. "You are a Tamer who can't win anymore. You have lost faith in yourself. You do not think you are worthy of being a Tamer anymore. Well, the difference between Tamers and regular humans is the choices they make. The foremost choice that a Tamer must make is to be a Tamer in the first place. Willing yourself to be something greater, something more than what you are summons the digivice to you. It is why I chose you to come to the Digital World. You made the choice to be what you are. Only you can choose to unmake that choice."

"What?" Brian exclaimed. "I can't just go and leave my friends. They need me!"

"They don't need you," Gennai spat. "You cause them more harm than what's necessary. It was your fault that Billy kidnapped Hope. It was your fault that Billy has gained so much power. If you had been stronger, you could have crushed Billy while he was still weak. If it wasn't for you, your apartment wouldn't be destroyed and your family would have a place to live right now. When you came back to the Digital World, you immediately lead you and your so-called friends into an ambush and were captured. If it weren't for Hope and Duane, you would have died. And now look at you. You five are stranded on an island with no help and no friends. You are merely waiting for Billy to come and kill you all. All of this could have been avoided if you had been a better Tamer and a better leader. I'm surprised that the others don't just abandon you. I'm surprised that even Agumon continues to follow you around! You are a crap Tamer!"

"No!" Brian yelled, placing his hands on his head. "No! You're lying! You're lying to me! I couldn't have stopped those things! How was I supposed to know that Billy would be getting so much stronger, so much faster than me?"

"If you were a good Tamer then you would have anticipated it!"

"Gennai! I want to be good enough! Make me stronger!"

Gennai looked down at Brian, who had collapsed to his knees. "How am I supposed to do that? I can't turn a crap Tamer into a good Tamer."

"Teach me how to digivolve to mega level!" Brian pleaded. "Billy did it! Billy digivolved two digimon that he isn't even partnered with to mega! There has to be a way that I can give Agumon the power to get to mega?"

"In order to give power, you must have power. You are a weakling. You can go back, Brian." Gennai kneeled down beside the Tamer. "You can go back to how things were. You can be a regular human again. Everything will go back to the way it was before you came here and your friends will walk their paths without you. You can make it so that Agumon never found you and cause Billy to destroy his village. Make it so that Hope never met you in the wastes that day. Duane would never have met you either. Nor Christina or Gabbie. You can make it so that you never screwed up their lives. Give up, Brian. Give up and give them a fighting chance."

"I can fix everything?" Brian asked. "I can make all of my mistakes right just by going home?"

"Yes. Go home, Brian."

"But, won't they miss me?"

"Miss you?" Gennai chuckled. "They don't even like you!" Gennai waved his hand and Hope appeared.

"You are nothing!" She said. "All you've done is lead our group from one disaster to the next! How can you even play this make-believe game anymore?"

Hope shimmered and dissolved into Duane. "I've never needed your help, Brian. None of us do. Go home. Never come back."

Duane then transformed into Gabbie and said, "Billy would be a much better leader than you!"

Christina appeared next. "You're just disgusting! I hate you! I haven't even been around very long, but I already know that you are just a crap Tamer!"

"You see?" Gennai told him. "That's what they really think of you."

Brian bowed his head. "So, they don't want me around after all? All right, then I guess I will go home."

"Good," Gennai spoke. "Then turn around and leave. Allow the flames to consume you and leave."

Brian stood up and turned around. Behind him was a huge wall of fire. The intense heat felt good against his skin. Brian closed his eyes and waited for the flames to lick at his features and swallow them whole. "No! Brian! Don't do it!" a voice from behind called. Brian turned around to face the voice. Gennai stood there, only it seemed as if he was being torn in half. One half tried desperately to pull away from the other, which tried to pull the first half back to itself.

"No, old man! You are ruining everything!" The half that was trying to stay together yelled.

The first half cried out to Brian, "Run away! That fire will destroy you! The choices you make cannot be undone! There is no going back! Make the best of what you have been given!"

The half that was trying to save Brian finally managed to pull away from the other. There were now two distinct figures. One was that of the real Gennai, and the other was that of the cloaked figure from the battle against Machindramon.

"Who are you?" Brian asked the cloaked figure.

"I will not let you harm this boy!" Gennai yelled at the cloaked figure.

"He must be taken out of the way, foolish old man!" The cloaked figure then lunged at Brian.

"No Daemon! He will not be defeated that easily!" Gennai pushed Brian out of the way and took the hit from the creature full on. The old man nimbly rolled backwards and used his feet to push Daemon into the air and into the wall of fire behind him.

"Gennai! What was that?" Brian asked. "I mean, you are the real Gennai, aren't you?"

"Boy, there is little that is real in the Digital World! Get that in your head right now!" Gennai scolded. "But for all intents and purposes, yes, I am the real Gennai. As for your other question, that is Billy's previous employer, an evil digimon named Daemon. But there is no time for questions right now! You must wake up! You have too many enemies right now, and they all want you dead! Wake up!"

"Wake up? What are you talking about?" Brian asked. Gennai didn't have any time to explain however as the wall of fire suddenly blazed with ferocity. The flames took on the shape of Daemon's face as the wall rushed towards them.

Without even thinking, Brian bolted down the hallway, running as fast as he could from the fire that wanted to engulf him. He reached the end of the hallway. There was nothing beyond except blackness. The hallway seemed to exist only in an empty void. He looked back and saw Daemon's flaming head rush towards him. There was nothing else he could do except jump into the darkness.

XXX

The water splashed everywhere as soon as it collided with his face. He sat bolt upright as the ice-cold temperature rushed right into his brain. "Wake up, I said!" a girl's voice sounded.

"Hey! What was that for?" Brian asked angrily. He looked around the room he was in. He decided that he must be inside one of the dome shaped houses of Shoreside. People surrounded his bed. It was his friends, Hope Duane, Gabbie, Christina, and all of the digimon.

"We had to wake you up," Hope said with a smile. She was holding a bucket with water dripping from the side. Brian got up as fast as he could and hugged her. "Brian! What are you doing?" she yelled as she pushed him off. "You're soaking wet!"

"Yeah, well that's your fault!" He laughed as he hugged her again. This time she hugged back.

Everybody else hugged him too, relieved that he was okay. "We were worried about you, you know," Hope told him from the mass of bodies that surrounded them.

They broke apart then. "Agumon told us what happened and we rushed over here as soon as possible!" Gabbie told him.

"Yeah!" Duane said. "You shouldn't have come over here by yourself!"

"You gave us all quite the scare," Christina told him as well.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "So what did happen anyway?"

"You don't remember?" Agumon asked. "That Sepikmon gave you a nasty bump on the head and then disappeared. After that you started talking to people that weren't there. You were ranting about going home or something like that."

"Well, that doesn't matter. I don't plan on going home anytime soon," Brian told them all. He hesitated and then said, "That is, unless you guys want me to go home?"

"What?" Duane exclaimed.

"Don't be stupid!" Christina told him.

"Of course we want you to stick around!" Hope assured.

"Yeah, dork!" Gabbie laughed.

"Even after all of the trouble that I always cause you guys? How I always seem to run us away from one bad situation into the next?" Brian said.

"You save us from a lot of the trouble that you cause," Hope reminded him. "Besides, most of that was just bad luck. Nobody blames you."

"Wow, thanks guys!" Brian exclaimed. "This really means a lot to me! Okay, so what happened after Agumon got you guys?"

"We abandoned our plans to play it safe with this town and we asked the villagers if they could offer us lodging for the night while you rested," Leomon explained. "As it turns out, our caution was ill placed as these villages have no idea about what is happening back on the mainland. It seems that they have never heard of the Digital Wastes before."

"I see," Brian thought it over for a moment. "How about we go take a look outside then?" He pushed his way past the group and walked outside into the daylight.

"Oh why, hello there!" a green frog creature said as Brian walked out. The digimon had a heavy lisp. "My name is Gekomon! This is my house that you are staying in! Pleased to meet you!"

"Hello there, I'm Brian. I assume that you've already been introduced to my friends?"

"Yes indeed! They are very good people!" Gekomon told him. He then turned away and began walking down one of the streets.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Christina called after him.

"To go help set up the fair, of course! Yup, yup!" Gekomon replied enthusiastically. He turned around and started walking again.

The Tamers ran over and stood in front of him. "Whoa, wait up!" Duane exclaimed. "What fair?"

"Well, we are celebrating the hundredth marriage anniversary of Jijimon and Babamon. They say that this is Babamon's third marriage even! Can you believe that? The third marriage lasted a hundred years!" Gekomon told him. He moved his way around the group and ran continued to run off. "I really must get over there now, you see."

Gatomon rushed over and grabbed the horn that protruded from of Gekomon's neck. He made a slight gasp and the horn blew out air as he was heaved into the air and held aloft. She turned Gekomon around and set him back down before saying, "Now hold on there! It's rude to keep running off like that, you know!"

"Yes! Yes! Sorry miss Gatomon, I apologize!" Gekomon pleaded. "But please, I must get back to the fair to make sure that it is ready!"

"Well, maybe we could help out!" Christina exclaimed.

"Yeah," Brian agreed. "That'd be a great change of pace. What do the rest of you think?"

"Sounds great to me!" Hope said.

"Let's do it!" Duane agreed.

"Uh huh!" Gabbie nodded. All of the digimon nodded as well. "So how can we help out?"

"You guys really mean it?" Gekomon cried happily. "Well then lets get to the fair! We have a lot of work that needs to get done, but I bet that with all of you guys helping, we'll be done in no time!"

"Alright then!" Brian exclaimed, throwing his fist in the air. "Lets get to work! Forward, ho!"

"Yeah! I'll lead you to the fair ground. C'mon!" Gekomon said through his lisp.

The little digimon led them to an area a little north of Shoreside were several other digimon were working on building what seemed to be a large stage. A group of Gizamon were helping some Gomamon move heavy logs across the beach and a choir of Otamon and Gekomon were practicing their singing. Meanwhile, and Orcamon was directing some more Gekomon with building the stage.

"Why don't you guys go help them set up the stage?" Gekomon told them. "And some of you can help cut down and move logs over if you'd like. I have to go practice with the choir though. See you guys later!"

"Alright, here's how we're going to split up," Brian pulled them into a huddle.

"What are you doing?" Hope asked, a little skeptically.

"I'm pulling us into a huddle?" He replied, a little unsure of himself now. "We have to make a strategy! C'mon, humor me."

"Well, okay then. Just this once," she said back to him.

Brian nodded and continued, "Okay, Christina and Duane will start cutting down trees and moving them over to the stage. Meanwhile, Hope, Gabbie, and I will be cutting the logs into planks and putting the stage together. Everybody got that?"

"Yeah, lets go!" Hope said, turning around and walking off. The others started walking away too.

"Hey! Wait!" Brian called. "We never broke the huddle! We're supposed to put our hands in the middle and- Hey! Get back here!" The other four and their digimon kept walking and laughed at Brian.

"I'll hold your hand, Brian," Agumon told him from his Tamer's side.

"Agumon! We aren't supposed to hold hands!" Brian cried. The laughter of the others burst out harder than before. "Never mind. C'mon lets just go, Agumon."

"But my hands are cold," Agumon whined, but followed him anyway.

Leomon used his sword to cut down several trees at a time. His blade never seemed to dull, and as the day wore on neither did his mind. The digimon seemed to always be evolving and adapting to the use that was required of him. "You're doing great, Leomon! Keep it up!" Duane called to his partner after he and Christina rolled another log over to the pile. "Whew, this is back breaking work, isn't it? I could go for a glass of lemonade."

Christina agreed, "Uh, huh! I'd be all over that!" It was about midday by now and the group had been working for hours. "What do you say that we take a break?"

Duane sat down before she even finished the sentence. "I think that sounds like a wonderful idea!"

Lekismon walked back over from the stage where she had just dragged a log. "You are smart children, I'm beat!" she said as she dedigivolved and collapsed into the sand to relax. Duane glanced over at Leomon who had also decided to lean against a tree.

"Hey, Stina," Duane asked after awhile. He had his eyes closed and did not intend to open them.

"Yes Duane?"

"Do you think we're ever going to find Tyler?" The question hung in the air for a moment. Duane rolled over to see if he could see her thoughts on her face. She was looking back at him intently.

"I his best friend and his girlfriend can't find him, then who can?" She offered as an answer. "After all, he's got to come back to us, doesn't he?"

"I don't know, Stina. He seems to be gone in some other way. He looks more like Billy than he used to. There's definitely something wrong with him."

"Maybe he's sick? Maybe they're all sick. After all, Gabbie said that Billy isn't all that bad when he starts to care. And Brian told us that Peter can be a real jerk but he isn't evil."

"I don't think any of them are evil. You're right. They must be sick with something. With what, though?" Dane pondered. "Some sort of computer virus?"

"Yeah, that's it. A computer virus."

"We'll find him. Don't worry," Duane reassured her.

"We'd better get back to work," Christina told him. "C'mon Lunamon, digivolve back to Lekismon now."

"Heave, Greymon!" Brian yelled. "Lift it up higher! Put your back into it!"

"I'm doing the best I can, Brian," Greymon replied with sweat dripping down his face. "This backdrop is really heavy though!"

Most of the stage was complete. The base was complete and all that was left was the backdrop wall and the curtain support in the front. They used whole logs for the backdrop and fastened them together with twine and a very strong glue compound that the villagers made from supplies they find in the forest.

Dobermon came over and pushed his head against the backdrop, helping Greymon push it up. With one last burst of strength, they managed to put it into place. Hope was helping decorate the stage with flowers that the villagers like, and Gabbie was putting together a podium. Angewomon was using her ability to fly to put the curtain up.

A few hours later, the stage was finally complete and they just had to prepare for the ceremony. Jijimon and Babamon came out to meet the Tamers for the first time. "Hello there, children," Babamon told them in a wizened voice. "I hear that you lot helped out very much today. Thank you."

"Oh, don't mention it," Hope said.

"Yeah, it was nothing!" Brian agreed.

"I wish we had something to drink, though," Duane complained again.

"Well, come on inside then!" Jijimon told them as he held open the door to their house. "We'd be honored to have the likes of you folk in our home for supper!"

XXX

"Why has a human entered our forest?" a voice behind him hissed. The creature pronounced the word "human" with undisguised distaste.

"I was hoping that perhaps you could help me out," Billy told the voice without turning around. He was aware of the others that were approaching but paid no heed to them. The spiders could be easily defeated if necessary.

"Boss," DemiDevimon whispered, showing obvious signs of fear. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea,"

"Quiet you fool," Billy whispered back. "Even if you can't digivolve to the mega level, you can still take on this group. Besides, I can use my DigiBlade to pick up any of your slack." His master's words stung the small digimon.

"And why would we assist a human?" another voice whispered from the shadows of the dark forest. To any onlookers, Billy would have seemed alone with DemiDevimon. In reality, they were in fact surrounded by countless numbers of Dokugumon.

"Oh, I never once assumed that you would," Billy retorted.

"Boss?" DemiDevimon gasped in shock. "You sure that it's wise to provoke them?"

"Shut up you sniveling fool!" Billy commanded. "I told before you that I can handle this!" He turned his attention back to the spiders and said, "You mindless fools wouldn't be able to resist helping me." His voice was calm, but cut like a blade through the darkness and the silence.

"You? A mere human!" one of the Dokugumon scoffed at him. "We wouldn't bend ourselves to your will so easily! I would think more cautiously with what you say next, boy!"

"How about you lot come on out here and we can settle this without all of the cloak and daggers. What do you say?" Billy pushed them. "That is of course, if you aren't afraid of such a small human."

"That's it!" a Dokugumon yelled. "Poison Cobweb!"

"DemiDevimon! Digivolve to-!" the little digimon yelled as his form changed shape and he became the ever-silent Devimon. The black devil easily destroyed the webbing before it came within twenty feet of Billy, who stood there calmly as if he was never attacked.

"You'll have to do better than that," the dark boy sneered. He produced a Black Splinter from his pocket and tossed it at the exposed digimon. The Splinter dug itself into Dokugumon's flesh. The spider let out a scream that soon fell silent. The creature's nine eyes glowed red and he was now ready to be controlled. "Attack, Dokugumon," Billy commanded.

The spider turned around and fired a few Poison Thread attacks into the forest, paralyzing more Dokugumon. The ones that were hit fell out of the trees. One tried to sneak up on Billy from behind by using its web to descend from above. Devimon quickly flew up into the air and rushed the spider, pinning it to a wall.

Billy pulled out more Black Splinters and threw them out into the air. They hung suspended around him for a moment before zooming off to find their targets. Each of the Black Splinters sunk themselves into a Dokugumon and made the digimon a mindless slave. Each Splinter endowed its host with new strength and agility.

He had just created a small army, perfect for wiping out the brats that constantly ruined his plans. "And what could you possibly plan to do with these foul creatures?" Lilithmon asked as she materialized from the darkness with her arms around Billy's neck. She stood behind him and stroked his hair absent-mindedly.

"Where have you been? It's been a few weeks since I last saw you poking your nose in my business." Billy spoke acidly.

"Oh that hurts, you know," she told him with mock hurt feelings. "I'll tell you what. Let's play a game! You answer my question first, and then I'll answer your question! How's that sound?"

"Fair enough," Billy agreed, a little agitated. "I plan to use these to get to the other Tamers and capture the Light."

"Capturing the Light is not very important," Lilithmon reminded him. "I've told you before that Daemon needs her, therefore we must destroy her. It really is sad that you still try to please your old master," she chided.

Billy spun around on her and she backed off a few steps. "I am not trying to please Daemon! He ruined my life! I plan to return the favor, but with a much more permanent manner. Besides, it would be nice to have all of the digidestined working for us, wouldn't it?"

"Oh, I'm sure it would be," she agreed. "Do what you will with them for now. She will eventually have to die, however. No matter who has their hands on her." She smiled at the thought of the girl's death, the way she smiled at all human suffering. It was then that Puppetmon walked over and stood next to Billy. "Ah, who's you're new friend?" Lilithmon asked.

"Tell you what," Billy snickered, "You answer my question first, and then I'll answer yours."

"Oh, very well," she replied, irritated that her own remark was used against her but keeping her temper nonetheless. "What was your question again?"

Billy knew full well that Lilithmon never forgot anything that he said, yet he humored her anyway. "Where have you been?" he repeated.

"Oh yes, of course!" She feigned surprise. "Well, I have been in the human world finishing up some business."

"What kind of business?"

"I recently purchased some real estate on the beach," she told him. "Now you answer my question."

"Him?" Billy gestured towards Puppetmon. "Why, this is the muffin man!" he smirked.

"Do not try to deceive me, William." She placed a cold hand gently on his cheek. "You're lying to me."

"And you're lying to me. Now we're even."

"Ooh, clever boy!" Lilithmon patted his cheek irritatingly. She dissolved into a black smoke and vanished from him then. "We will continue this talk later," her disembodied voice lingered on.

XXX

The Tamers and their digimon took up the old couple on their offer and ate dinner with them. The food was delicious and they ate second helpings. "So," Babamon started the conversation after dinner. "Tell us a little bit about yourselves. How did a group of humans like you come by this village?"

"Well, you see," Hope started. The group exchanged worried looks; uncertain of if they should tell the old couple about the evil digimon hunting them.

"It's okay, children," Jijimon assured them, "You can tell us."

"Yeah," Babamon agreed. "It'll be our little secret." She gave them a quick wink that eased the Tamers up a bit.

"Okay," Brian decided eventually. "Here's why we came here," he was suddenly interrupted by a crash from outside and the screaming of several digimon. "That right there is why we are here. C'mon Agumon! Let's get out there!"

The little digimon nodded and the whole group ran outside, the aged digimon right on their heels.

The sky outside had grown dark and the digimon of the village were running around in fear and panic. The stage had been destroyed and several buildings had caught fire. Huge spider-like digimon were crawling all over the place, attacking digimon and destroying structures.

"Oh my –" Babamon gasped.

"What has happened?" Jijimon exclaimed.

"This has to be Billy's doing," Duane exclaimed. "You ready, Leomon?"

The large digimon drew his sword and stated, "Ready as I'll ever be."

The other champion level digimon, Gatomon, Dobermon, and Lekismon stood by him. Brian and Gabbie slowly backed away in fear. "Brian, aren't you going to make me digivolve?"

"Huh?" Brian said as his attention was pulled away from the eight-legged digimon. "Oh, right. Um," he pulled out his digivice but his fingers were numb with fright. He tried to press the buttons but he was also shaking real badly.

"I have to get out of here!" Gabbie cried. She rushed back into Jijimon and Babamon's house. The old couple followed her inside.

"Gabbie!" Dobermon yelled and ran after her. There was no way that he would leave her alone unprotected.

"Hurry up Brian!" Hope yelled over her shoulder. She had summoned her DigiBlade and was helping Gatomon fend off one of the Dokugumon.

"Yeah, we need you!" Duane yelled. He and Leomon were also sparring with a Dokugumon.

Christina, who was still learning how to fight with her chakram DigiBlade, was being helped by Lekismon to fight yet another Dokugumon. The creatures seemed to be everywhere.

"I—I can't!" Brian yelled. He turned on his heels and ran off into the village, hoping to escape the spiders.

"Brian! Get back here!" Hope yelled angrily. She parried a blow from Dokugumon and stuck the point of her blade into the digimon's side. "Fine! We don't need you after all!" Gatomon finished off the spider with her Lightning paw attack and the pair moved on to kill another of the endless army of spiders.

Agumon stayed by them to help out as best as he could. Even though he only had the power of a rookie level digimon, he could still offer some sort of support in the battle. The remaining Tamers would need all the help that they could get, especially since they were two Tamers down.


	36. Puppet Games

Tyler stood in the Great Hall of Billy's main fortress as the digiport opened up and a body walked through. "Hello there, Peter. Dorumon," He nodded to both the boy and his partner. The digiport closed behind them and Peter took a seat at the long table. Tyler did the same. "So, how is Reboot doing?"

"That horrible block of ice that 'oh so benevolent' Billy gave me to rule over?" Peter remarked in disgust. "I hate it. It's very cold up north. The digimon there are constantly annoying me. Pestering and nagging me with their problems. Who cares if they can't thaw out the water? I certainly don't. They can all die for all I care."

"Those are harsh words. You need those digimon to survive," Tyler told him. He sipped tea from a cup in front of him.

Peter crossed his arms and glared at Tyler. "Well, of course you wouldn't have any complaints. At least your underground kingdom is warm."

"The ferrets make it smell bad," Tyler told him, referring to the Prairiemon.

"Small price to pay," the other said stubbornly. "Where is Meramon, by the way?"

"It's laundry day," Tyler replied with a grin.

"You wouldn't survive a day without him, would you?" Peter chuckled.

"I suppose I wouldn't! But then again, he wouldn't survive very long if he didn't do as I said either. Digimon are tool used to achieve a goal. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Fools," Billy roared as he entered through a digiport. DemiDevimon was once again riding on his shoulder. "Surely you realize that digimon are more than that?"

"They're simply advanced programs," Peter replied.

"Shut your mouth, Zippers," Billy commanded as he made fun of Peter's sweater. He was wearing a black sweater with a red hood and a yellow face on the front that was sticking out its tongue. The sweater had an excess amount of zippers on it, many of which did nothing at all.

"Digimon can think and feel," Billy continued.

"So we should just all hold hands and sing about happiness and friendship?" Tyler mocked.

"Don't be stupid," Billy looked at him with a dangerous glare. "I'm not saying treat your digimon with respect or kindness or anything. They are creatures that are below humans. However, at least put their talents to something more useful than washing your filthy underwear."

"Very well," Tyler told him, a little acidly. "How go your plans in the Keys?"

"Good, actually," the dark boy's mood instantly enhanced. "So good, in fact, that I have left Puppetmon in charge of things down there. I believe he can handle them. Two of them are frozen with their fear of spiders anyway! You should have seen the look on Brian's face when he saw the swarm crawling all over that village!" He thought for a moment and then added, "I wish Gabbie didn't have to be put through any of that."

"Do you have a soft spot for the girl?" Peter joked. Billy shot him a warning glare and Brian's little brother shrank a little underneath the power of it. Billy was not somebody to mess around with and Peter and Tyler knew that.

"Well, if you aren't going to be helping out with things over in the keys," Tyler spoke again, "Then it seems as though you have a bit of a vacation."

"Hardly. I have to go speak with somebody," Billy said. "Lilithmon won't like it, so we aren't going to tell her about it. Understand? I needed to stop by here for a few extra supplies. I want you two to prepare a group of Devidramon to take me where I need to go." The other two nodded at the command. "Now!" Billy yelled. The other two stood up quickly and bolted out of the room.

"Why does he hate us so much?" Peter asked as they ran down the hallway leading from the Great Hall.

"Well, you are Brian's little brother. That makes you very much the same as him in Billy's eyes."

"I am nothing like my weakling brother!" Peter roared back.

"I didn't say you were," Tyler tried to calm him. "But you have the same blood. And he hates you for that."

"Well, what about you?" Peter asked him.

"Me? I think I just irritate him."

XXX

Brian slumped against one of the ruined, dome-shaped buildings and let his body slide downward until he was sitting. The fighting had moved on away from this area and he seemed to be alone. He pulled out his digivice and stared at his reflection in the screen.

"What am I doing?" he asked himself. "Some Tamer I am. Running away from champion level digimon." He threw the digivice against the wall of another building in front of him and buried his face into his hands. "I let my friends down again. I should be over there in the fray. I'm sorry, Agumon. I'm sorry everybody. Maybe I should just go home."

He separated his fingers and saw a pair of sandaled feet. He slowly let his eyes run up the bare legs, the denim skirt, the purple blouse, and finally rested them on her face. "Why are you so down on yourself, Brian?" Lily said.

Brian gasped in shock. "Lily? But—what are you doing here? How did you even get-?" but he suddenly lost his words as she grabbed his hands and helped him up. When he had stood up completely, Lily wrapped her arms around him pressed her face against his chest.

"I missed you, you know," she told him. "Why did you have to run off like that? One minute you were standing in your room kissing me and then—"

"I had to come here." Brian stopped her. "It's important that I—it was important that I be here."

She pulled away from him for a minute. "What do you mean 'was'?"

"Do you see that thing that I threw?" He pointed to his digivice.

She went over and picked it up. "Yeah. What about it? Is it important?" She held it to her ear and shook it curiously. Brian couldn't help but think how cute and childish she looked.

"It's called a digivice. I can use it to power up digimon. Turn it over," Brian told her. She did what he said. "That symbol on the back is called the Crest of Courage. Because of that symbol, I am the Warrior of Courage."

"Okay, so what's that problem?"

"I have no courage. I just ran away from my friends because of a few spiders." He bowed his head in shame. "I can't win the battles I fight either. I keep losing the most important ones and Billy and Daemon just keep getting stronger. Now he's learned how to digivolve certain digimon to mega and he can control digimon with his Black Splinters. It seems that every time we do something good, we are instantly struck down with defeat and it's only a matter of time before they find and kill us all and I can't do anything to stop it!"

She studied him for a moment. Brian turned his back on her and pounded his fists against the wall once. He leaned his forehead against the cold stone. Lily put her hand on his shoulder and said, "Its okay to be afraid sometimes, Brian. You just have to keep trying."

He turned around to face her. "How can I go back to my friends now? How can I help them when I'm so terrified of the things we fight?"

She kissed him on the mouth. For one moment, Brian forgot every fear he had. For that one, brief moment, he felt like he had the courage that he once had when it was just him and Agumon traveling through the Wastes, trying to get home. They broke apart and he stared at her, a little dazed. "You go back to them with courage and a puffed out chest. Then you use your digivice to make your digimon as powerful as you can." She thrust the digivice into his hands. "Then you win the fight."

Brian took the digivice and stared down at it. The screen caught a glare from the remaining daylight and it looked for a moment that the Crest of Courage appeared on the screen before disappearing again. "Lily, are you really here?" he looked back up but she had disappeared. He looked around and saw nobody.

Looking back at his digivice, he nodded. Brian turned on his heels and bolted back in the direction of his friends.

XXX

Hope, Duane, and Christina fought with everything they had against the swarm of Dokugumon. Agumon, Gatomon, Leomon, and Lekismon were destroying the spiders left and right. The fight had destroyed more of the dome houses and the dirt had become trodden and devoid of grass. Hope was beginning to wonder how much longer they could all keep this up.

Their muscles ached with fatigue, but the Dokugumon just kept coming. Every time they managed to kill one, three more took its place. The whole thing was maddening.

I still can't believe that Brian and Gabbie just abandoned us like that, Hope thought. We need them! And where are they? Hiding while we do all the work.

She parried an attack and struck back, sinking her blade into the skull of a Dokugumon. The creature dissolved into data. She was tired of fighting.

"Hey guys!" a voice called from behind them. Hope looked over her shoulder and saw Brian running in their direction holding his digivice over his head. The screen was glowing.

"He's digivolving," Hope realized suddenly. "Hey everybody! Brian is going to help us fight!" All of a sudden, something jumped on Hope's back and knocked her onto the ground. She felt a sting in he side and drowsiness over came her. She slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

"Agumon!" Brian yelled, not realizing what had happened to Hope. "Digivol—" he too was suddenly tackled and pinned to the ground. Dokugumon's venom swam through his veins as well and he slowly closed his eyes.

Distracted by his Tamer, Agumon also came under the affects of Dokugumon's poison. It wasn't long before Duane, Christina, Leomon, and Lekismon all were stung by the Dokugumon. Their paralyzed bodies were thrown into a pile where they were then covered in spider web. The Dokugumon dragged the Tamers and their digimon off into the forest.

Gabbie and Dobermon watched the whole thing from behind Jijimon and Babamon's window.

XXX

"We have to go do something, Gabbie," Dobermon was saying to her. The Dokugumon had long since gone and night had fallen, revealing the three bright moons in the sky.

"I know we do, Dobermon," she replied. "But how useful can we be? We cant digivolve at all and I'm afraid of spiders. We are useless to them." She fidgeted in her chair, knowing that staying and doing nothing was wrong. It ate away at her conscious.

Babamon walked in holding a tray that supported four cups of tea. She placed one in front of Gabbie and Dobermon each. Gabbie held hers, but didn't drink while Dobermon licked at it despite the heat from it. Babamon took nervous sips from hers and Jijimon angrily declared that he did not like tea.

"Get over it you big baby," They could hear Babamon tell her husband. They argued in the background while Gabbie and Dobermon discussed things more.

"Gabbie, we can't stay here and do nothing. You know as well as I do that they need somebody to help them, and we're all they have, useful or not."

"Its hopeless, isn't it?" she asked with a weak smile

"Yeah it probably is. Has that ever stopped us before? We were hunted down in Minnesota by digimon for weeks, transported to the Digital World where we were dragged into a war that wasn't ours, you were stabbed through the gut, and then we had to survive all by ourselves in the city. There, we were nearly destroyed by Machinedramon and then whisked away back to the Digital World to fight an unknown and faceless enemy who hunts us at every turn. Not to mention Billy who is always right on our heels. Our whole adventure together has been hopeless, Gabbie, but we shouldn't let that stop us."

He paused to let her think things over. "You're right," she decided. "Sitting here moping that we don't have a DigiBlade won't solve anything. We need to go into that forest and find our friends!"

Jijimon and Babamon stopped their arguing when they heard what she had said. "You can't be serious, child!" Babamon exclaimed.

"The forest is was too dangerous!" Jijimon agreed. "We wouldn't be good digimon if we just let you two wander off into there!"

"Especially knowing that there is a swarm of Dokugumon waiting for you!" Babamon added.

"Please," Gabbie pleaded. "We have to save our friends."

Her eyes locked with Babamon's for a moment and the digimon seemed to understand. She bowed her head in defeat and said, "Very well, child. If it's something that you absolutely must do, the do it."

Jijimon looked at her in shock. "You can't be serious, Babamon!"

"I am very serious. We cannot stop her. We don't have the right. Not when the lives of their friends are at risk."

Gabbie thanked her and she and Dobermon ran out of the house and into the forest beyond. This particular part of the forest was very dark, much darker than the area that they had camped in previously. Every now and then Gabbie could see a pair of eyes staring at her through the leaves before it disappeared.

She had walked for several hours and the forest just kept getting darker the deeper she went in. Soon, she started seeing spider webs draped over the trees and surrounding underbrush. It gave her the creeps and a shiver ran down her spine.

The webbing covering the trees grew thicker as she walked. Dobermon made a point to stay very close to his Tamer. "Another human enters the forest," a voice laughed. "Why does the prey enter so willingly into our abode?" Several Dokugumon stepped out of the shadows so that she could see them. A few more crawled down a strand of web from above.

"We're looking for somebody," Gabbie replied hesitantly, the fear rising in her chest and threatening to make her puke. Spiders were bad enough as it is when they're small. Dokugumon is a living nightmare. She stood strong, however, and didn't let her fear show on her face.

"Who? Maybe we can help," Another hissed.

"I don't think you can," Gabbie replied, her voice shaking a little. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

"Dokugumon!" a different voice yelled from back somewhere in the forest. "Why isn't anybody playing with me? I demand that somebody play with me right now!" The owner of the voice appeared and he looked angry.

"Hey," Dobermon said. "You're that digimon that was with Billy back on the other island!"

"Yeah? What of it? My name is Puppetmon," the large marionette said. "I'll let you live if you play with me!"

"I don't think we have any choice, Dobermon," Gabbie whispered.

"Well, do you have a plan?"

"I think so." She then said to Puppetmon, "How about we play tag? Have you ever played tag before?"

"Tag? What's that? Is it a videogame?" Puppetmon's curiosity had been piqued.

"It's a very easy, but very fun game to play." She took a few steps towards Puppetmon and said, "Let me show you how."

The Dokugumon closed in around her immediately. "Let her through! Let her through!" Puppetmon yelled. "I want her to show me how to play tag! Show me now!"

The Dokugumon dispersed and allowed her to approach Puppetmon. "It goes kinda like this: One person is 'it' and whoever is it has to chase the other two around. If the it person tags you," she demonstrated by pushed her hand lightly against Puppetmon, "then that person becomes it and has to chase everybody else."

"That sounds like fun!" Puppetmon said eagerly. "Who wins?"

"Nobody wins. Its just fun."

"Whoever is it is losing! That's what I just decided!" Puppetmon told them. "You can be it first!" He pointed at Gabbie. He then ran away and Gabbie started chasing him. Dobermon followed suit and quickly managed to get in front of Gabbie so that she was chasing both digimon.

Puppetmon laughed the whole time that she chased them. Gabbie finally managed to catch up to Dobermon and tag him. "Dobermon is it!" Gabbie cried. "Keep Puppetmon distracted while I search around for the others, okay?" Dobermon nodded and ran after Puppetmon.

Gabbie ran away in search of her friends while Dobermon tried to tag Puppetmon. Being much faster and more agile than the marionette, Dobermon tagged him very easily. "No fair!" he yelled. "You must have cheated! I want a do-over!"

"I tagged you fair and square!" Dobermon defended himself. While they argued, Gabbie had finally caught a glimpse of her friends. They were being held in the air in a net of web. All of them were awake and they were struggling to get free, but their efforts did nothing to break the webbing.

"Fine! I'll be it for a little while! But only for a little while!" Puppetmon told him. He then began to run at Dobermon who easily evaded and ran towards where Gabbie stood. She then joined back into the game and they were running in circles around Puppetmon. He tried to run after them but he wasn't a fast enough runner to catch either of them. "I want you guys to stop cheating!" he yelled.

He snapped his fingers and two Dokugumon shot their webs and Gabbie and Dobermon's legs, tripping them up. Puppetmon casually walked over to Gabbie and tagged her. "There! I win and you lose!"

"I told you before, it isn't about winning." Gabbie sat up and tried to pry the web off her feet. One of the Dokugumon, much to her distaste, came over and took it off for her. So, only the Dokugumon can remove the web, Gabbie mentally noted, that means I'm going to have to trick them to get my friends down.

"I'm tired of this game," Puppetmon complained. "Play a new one with me!"

Gabbie suddenly got another idea. "Have you ever played soccer?"

"No, I haven't," Puppetmon said.

"Well, this one is a team sport. We need at least five players each."

"I can use the Woodmon, but who would be on your team?"

"Well, I saw some humans back there. Could they be on my team?" Gabbie asked hopefully.

"I know what you're doing!" Puppetmon accused. "Those humans are your friends! And you guys will all escape and leave me the moment you can! I won't let you leave me! You will all be my friends forever!"

The Dokugumon webbed Gabbie and Dobermon more and dragged them off into the forest. They were then hoisted into the air and placed next to the others.

"So they got you too, eh?" Duane asked when the Dokugumon left.

"Yeah," Gabbie replied.

"Okay, so what are we going to do?" Brian asked.

"It doesn't matter," Hope said. "Nothing can break through these webs."

"The Dokugumon can break the webs," Gabbie informed them. "I watched them do it earlier."

"That's a great idea, Gabbie," Christina said. "We'll just ask the nice one that we met to break us free."

"Don't be mean, Stina," Duane told her. "She's just helping. The more information we have, then the easier it is to devise a plan."

"Well, devise no longer! I have a plan!" Gabbie told them.

"Still?" Dobermon asked.

"Yeah. It's the same plan, just altered a little. Let me take care of things. Hey Puppetmon!" she yelled. "Don't you still want to play a game?"

"Leave me alone! You'll just cheat again!" Puppetmon yelled back.

"No I won't! I promise! I just want to play soccer with you! Please?"

"How do I know that you won't leave me like everybody else does?"

"Because you can keep our digimon tied up! We won't leave without them. I promise!"

Puppetmon thought about it for a moment. "Very well! I'll trust you for now!" he spoke with the Dokugumon for a second and they were quickly cut down.

The humans were put safely back down on the ground but the digimon had to remain in the web netting. Gabbie quickly went over the rules of soccer. After she was done, a space was cleared and a ball was brought out. Puppetmon used four Woodmon as his players, and the five humans made up the other team.

They all played together for a little while and Puppetmon seemed to be having a good time. "Okay," Brian said. "When do we make our move, Gabbie?"

"No doubt that Puppetmon will start to get bored soon. When that happens, somebody has to challenge him to a bet. If we win, then we get to go free. Unfortunately, I think that the only way he'll agree to that is if we promise to stay and be his friends forever."

"Okay," Brian said. "I'll offer the bet then." They broke huddle and Brian spoke to Puppetmon. "What do you say that we make a little wager?"

"What kind of a wager?" Puppetmon asked curiously.

"We play one more game of soccer. If we humans win, then you let us and our digimon go free."

"And you humans lose?"

"We stay and be your friends forever. Willingly." Brian tried not to think about that possibility too much.

Puppetmon thought for a moment. He clearly thought that it was a trick of some sort, "I agree. But, I want to change the game a little bit! I want to make it more interesting!"

The group was instantly afraid of the word 'interesting'.


	37. The Love of the Game

"Here's how you play the new game!" Puppetmon exclaimed. He had the old soccer ball taken away by a group of Mushroomon who returned shortly after. The Dokugumon soon began to surround the field and mark up the boundary lines before they sat down to watch. A group of four Woodmon also came out and stood on the side of field that Puppetmon stood on. "Your digimon partners will be the goal that you have to protect," he told the humans. A large Cherrymon came and stood behind Puppetmon's team. "And this Cherrymon will be the goal that we protect."

"Okay," Hope said, a little unsure.

"Sounds like a piece of cake!" Brian exclaimed confidently.

"Maybe not, Brian," Gabbie cautioned. "Puppetmon has some sort of trick up his sleeve. I'm sure of it."

It was then that one of the Mushroomon brought out a small, round object and placed it in the middle of the field. Puppetmon and the Woodmon got into a huddle and began discussing a plan. The Tamers followed suit. As they did so, the unconscious partner digimon were hung from a tree on the Tamers field.

"So who here knows how to play this game best?" Brian asked right off the bat. "I've never really played before today."

"I've been playing for seven years," Gabbie said immediately, very proud.

"About the same," Hope said as well.

"Anybody else?" Brian looked at the other two. They all shook their heads no. "Alright, that makes you two girls the heads or whatever for this. Tell us what to do."

"Okay, well I think we should have two forwards, two midfielders, and a goalie," Hope began.

"Okay, I think I know what the goalie is for," Duane said. "But you should refresh my memory on what forwards and midfielders are.

"The forwards will be able to go where ever they want on the field," Gabbie explained. "They will be the ones scoring points and running around. Midfielders can only be on their half of the field and should act as a line of defense against the opposite team's offense."

"Right," Hope agreed. "We should have our fastest players be the forwards."

Gabbie looked around at them and thought for a moment. "I think that you and I are the fastest here," she said to Hope. "We should be the forwards."

"I'll be the goalie," Brian said. "I don't think I'll be much good out there on the field."

"That leaves you and me as midfielders, Stina," Duane surmised.

She nodded back at him with determination. "Right. I'm ready."

"Okay, so we're all agreed then?" Brian made certain. Everybody nodded and put their hands in the middle. "Okay, on three."

They pumped the mass of hands three times and yelled, "Tamers!" 

"Okay!" Puppetmon cried as they broke their huddle. The Woodmon walked to different areas of the field. Puppetmon appeared to be playing forward position. There was a Dokugumon with a black and white striped shirt standing off to the side with a whistle. "When the whistle blows, we begin playing! No cheating!"

The two forwards from each team stood facing the strange ball. When the whistle blew, Puppetmon, a Woodmon, Hope, and Gabbie all ran at the ball. Hope struck it hard with her foot and chased it down to the other side of the field.

The other three forwards followed her down. Gabbie caught up and was running parallel to her, several feet to her left. Hope passed Gabbie the ball just as a Woodmon dove in front of Hope. Gabbie caught the ball and continued to kick it down the field. She got close to the goal and stopped. The other teams midfielders had closed in on her and she couldn't move.

Gabbie kicked the ball up into the air and used her head to pass it over the Woodmon. Hope did a front-flip and kicked the ball straight at the other team's goalie. It looked like it would make it at first, but the ball suddenly exploded.

Puppetmon reached out to grab the cross that he had thrown at the ball. He grinned as Hope fell down onto her butt after her kick.

"You didn't tell us that ball was a bomb!" she yelled at him.

"Woops," Puppetmon responded indifferently. "Mushroomon! We need a new ball!" he called to the rookie level digimon off to the side. The horde of Dokugumon spectators yelled in delight as Puppetmon raised his arms in triumph.

"It seems they aren't going to play fair," Duane growled to Brian and Christina.

"Yeah," Brian agreed. "So let's play a little dirty ourselves." Duane looked at him quizzically. Brian shot a mysterious grin back and said, "You'll see what I mean."

The new "ball" that a Mushroomon had supplied was given to the opposing goalie who threw it back into play. Another Woodmon, one of the midfielders, caught it as if gently slammed against his chest. After the bomb dropped back to the ground, the digimon passed it to Puppetmon who was already running down the field.

"He's coming, guys!" Gabbie yelled as she and Hope chased after the digimon. A Woodmon wasn't that far behind. The grass was a blur beneath their feet as they ran down the field.

It wasn't hard for the much faster Puppetmon to out maneuver Duane and Christina and quickly reach the goal. Brian waited, staring Puppetmon down as the others caught up. The digimon wasted no more time and quickly kicked the ball right at Brian.

The Tamer held up his hands and summoned his DigiBlade to deflect the bomb. The ensuing explosion singed his clothes and blew wind all around him. He felt a great amount of pain, especially on his hands. As the smoke cleared, he realized that his hands had digitized slightly, and were flickering.

"Whoa," Duane said. "I always wondered, but never really knew."

"Knew what?" Hope quickly asked, a little scared for Brian.

"We must be made of data while we're in the Digital World. I wonder if our bodies stay in the Real World until we need them again." He paused and then added, "That doesn't mean we can't die though. We're still us and I'd rather stay on the safe side of things."

As his data stabilized, Puppetmon said, "Those bombs disrupt data. Approximately three hits and you're deleted!" He laughed maniacally. "Looks like you have a choice to make!"

"What kind of choice?" Christina asked, fearing the answer.

"He means," Brian explained, "that if I let three balls through, then it's game over for our digimon." Everybody was suddenly aware of why Puppetmon had put the partner digimon as the goal behind Brian. "But if I keep deflecting the bombs," he trailed off. He didn't want to say it.

"Then he dies!" Puppetmon exclaimed excitedly.

The Tamers all looked at him with mixed emotions of shock and loathing. "You can't do this, Puppetmon!" Gabbie exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Hope agreed. "We won't play!"

"You have to!" Puppetmon told them. Three Dokugumon positioned themselves around the digimon partners hanging from the tree behind Brian. "If you don't, then your digimon will die! Make your decision."

"I'll be fine," Brian called to the others. "I won't let anything happen to our digimon!"

"What about you?" Hope asked. "You aren't being brave! You're being stupid-brave!"

"If I don't, then the digimon will die."

"And if you do then you will die!" Gabbie yelled.

"They're right Brian," Duane told him. "You don't have to do this."

"Look," Brian said, suddenly getting an idea. "After two hits, I'll alternate out with somebody. Does that sound better?"

The others grudgingly agreed and the game resumed. Brian was handed a new bomb, which he tossed in to Christina. "Try to think of ways that we can use the DigiBlades," Brian told them. "Puppetmon can use his powers, so can we."

Christina hurled the ball with her foot to Duane who deflected it up the field to Gabbie. A Woodmon intercepted and ran back towards them. Hope ran and skidded in front of the digimon, stealing the ball. Gabbie got it back and rushed up the field. Hope stood back up, ignoring the dirt on her, and ran after her.

Gabbie passed the ball to Hope when she caught up and weaved between two of the Woodmon. Puppetmon was right on Hope's tail when she caught the ball. She ran as fast as she could while still controlling the ball and faked a kick at the goalie. The defending Woodmon took the bait and dove downward. Hope passed the bomb back to Gabbie as he hit and she launched it into the goal zone. The bomb exploded against the trunk of the Cherrymon, who moaned at the pain. The Cherrymon's data disrupted for a moment and then stabilized again.

"That was cheating!" Puppetmon accused.

"How?" Gabbie cried.

"I don't know! It just was!" the digimon accused as a new bomb was put into play. The Woodmon goalie threw the ball to Puppetmon. The Dark Master ran up the left side of the field, kicking the ball forward with each step. A Woodmon ran parallel to Puppetmon up the right side, Hope and Gabbie were trying to keep up. The girls had exhausted a decent amount of their energy trying to score that first point though.

"Duane!" Brian yelled. "Stop Puppetmon! Use your DigiBlade!"

Duane summoned the halberd that he wielded and used the blunt end to trip up Puppetmon as he passed by. Puppetmon kicked the ball over to the Woodmon and jumped over the shaft of the DigiBlade and yelled, "Puppet Pummel!" Puppetmon pulled the large mallet off of his back and struck Duane in the back with it. The gunpowder inside the mallet ignited and blasted Duane forward.

He cried out as he hit the ground, his data flickering. Gabbie ran past Duane and caught up to Puppetmon. She ran along side him, hoping to keep the Woodmon from passing the ball back to the Dark Master. "Get out of my way!" Puppetmon told her.

"No!"

Puppetmon charged full speed at Brian. "Christina!" Brian yelled. "You have to keep the Woodmon from getting to me!"

Christina summoned her chakram DigiBlade and threw it at the Woodmon, but not before the digimon kicked the ball ahead of him and right at the goal. Brian stood in the goal, prepared to take the explosion full on, but Puppetmon advanced and swung his heavy hammer at his head. Brian ducked instinctually and the bomb went right over his head, exploding on contact with the partner digimon.

They heard a whimper of pain from the digimon and the data flickered a little. Hope and Gabbie skidded to a halt. Puppetmon grinned and ran back to protect his own goal. A Mushroomon handed Brian the new bomb and he threw it back into play. Gabbie caught it and passed it to Hope, who was already halfway up the field. The two ran up opposite sides of the field. Hope passed it back to Gabbie and struck a Woodmon in the torso with her short-sword DigiBlade, knocking him over with the blow.

Puppetmon threw his cross at Hope in anger but she dodged it skillfully. Cornered again by a Woodmon, Gabbie stopped and placed her foot protectively over the ball. She quickly glanced around at her possibilities. Puppetmon advanced on her from behind and she knew she had to act fast. She kicked the ball upward into the air and slammed her forehead into it, propelling the ball right at the Woodmon in front of her.

The ball toppled the other digimon over and she bolted to retrieve the ball. Gabbie caught it again and continued down the field, Puppetmon moving quickly behind her. Hope ran up beside Puppetmon and she sliced at him with her sword. The Dark Master fought back with his revolver-style hammer, blocking and striking back. As the two exchanged blows, Gabbie managed to gain distance and she was soon right there at the goal.

"No!" Puppetmon yelled as she kicked the ball hard into the goal. The Woodmon defending the Cherrymon inside took the blast and was flown backwards as his data flickered. A Mushroomon quickly put another bomb into play and the ball was passed to Puppetmon before the girls had a chance to get back to their own side of the field.

Christina stood in front of Puppetmon as he advanced and she threw her chakram at him. Duane was in combat with the Woodmon forward. Puppetmon dodged the chakram and swung his hammer at her, knocking her out of his way.

Puppetmon threw his cross at Brian who deflected the attack with his DigiBlade. "Gotta try harder than that!" the boy yelled. Puppetmon growled and kicked the ball at him. Brian stood right in the way, ready to take the blast and protect the digimon behind him.

It went in the goal.

A sideline Dokugumon had used its web to adjust the path of the bomb, moving it right passed Brian and into the goal. The explosion engulfed the digimon.

XXX

"Puppetmon is no longer obeying your orders, Billy." The old man looked at him sternly. "He is a dangerous ally and does not play well with others."

"Well he's too powerful to control with the Black Splinters, Gennai," the boy shot back at him. "You called me here. Why?"

"I've told you before that the Dark Masters cannot be tamed, no matter what Tamer decides to give them orders. They always have motives of their own. There is a reason that Puppetmon agreed to work with you. And it isn't because he deludes himself into thinking you're his friend."

"Then what is it?"

"He wants the DigiBlades, Billy. Open your eyes." Gennai's stare was intense and Billy seemed to shrink underneath it. "The DigiBlades are the reincarnation of the Crests. They reshaped themselves and chose the Eight to come to the Digital World and wield their power. Even you must succumb to the reason that they want you. You are supposed to save our worlds."

"Don't get caught up in that," Billy told him. "That isn't what we are discussing. I will rule the Digital World after my competitors are out of the way."

"Does that include Lilithmon?"

"Yes. She is a means to an objective. She will fall at my blade same way you and Daemon will."

"Is that why you don't kill me? Am I a means to an objective?"

"Yes." Billy shifted his weight. They stood in one of the ancient forests of Monitor, near a wizened old tree. The shade was cool on Billy's face.

"And what will you do when Daemon becomes a means to an objective? Will you keep him alive as well? Uncertainty will surely bind you to him the way it has bound you to Lilithmon and I. Face it Billy, you are a slave."

"I am not!" He yelled as he drew his sword and laid the point against Gennai's throat. "I will kill you right now!"

"You will not. If you were going to then you wouldn't have hesitated. You wouldn't be listening to what I have to say."

"Get to the point!"

Gennai paused for a moment. He was sure that Billy wouldn't kill him at the moment. A hunger for purpose burned in the boy's eyes. As long as Gennai, Lilithmon, and Daemon lived, he would hunt them saying that he would kill them. He would never kill any of them, however. Gennai foresaw that it was the other Tamer's fate to kill Lilithmon and Daemon. He also foresaw his own death, but not at the hands of Billy.

Gennai cleared his throat and spoke, "Kill Puppetmon. Join Brian and the others and help them kill the Dark Masters. You cannot defeat them alone."

"I can! I will! And then I will kill the Tamers!"

"Then use it as an excuse to examine them close up. Learn their weaknesses. Catch them when they're off guard. But you will need them to defeat the Dark Masters. They were only defeated through the power of the Eight long ago. That is how it must happen this time as well."

Gennai disappeared suddenly. Billy blinked and looked around. He was nowhere to be seen. "C'mon, Sakuyamon. We have work to do."

The tall digimon walked out. Her armor clanged together as it rubbed. She planted her staff into the earth with each step and she exited the shadows. "Yes, my master." Her eyes glowed red.

XXX

A large wooden arm collided with the side of Duane's face as he ran alongside the Woodmon with the ball. As Duane hit the dirt, the digimon passed it to Puppetmon. Hope was running next to Puppetmon and the two were exchanging blows. They were both distracted however, as Puppetmon was trying to catch the thrown ball and Hope was trying to intercept it. Puppetmon knocked Hope in he head with his cross and she was knocked off balance. He caught the ball and sped down the field, Gabbie close on his heels. Christina dove in front of him in an attempt to grab the ball. She missed but managed to stumble him enough for Gabbie to catch up.

Puppetmon threw his cross at Brian who was forced to jump out of the way. The Woodmon had him pinned down before he even knew what had hit him. With no goalie and everybody else either laying on the ground or running behind him, Puppetmon had nothing to stop him from kicking the bomb into the goal, winning the game and killing all five of the partner digimon.

Puppetmon pulled his leg back and kicked the ball right at his target. "No!" Gabbie yelled. "Dobermon! I can't lose you! I love you!"

Suddenly the ground rumbled and cracked apart. Reddish pink light shot out of every crevice that had suddenly been created and a giant block of metal burst its way through the dirt in front of the unconscious partner digimon. The nearby Dokugumon were knocked off balance and one of them accidentally cut open the webbing that held the digimon captive. Their unawake bodies sprawled out over the ground.

The bomb collided with the giant block of metal that now protected the digimon. "It's been here the whole time!" Puppetmon shrieked.

It took Gabbie a second to realize what he was talking about. Then she saw the small digivice shaped indention in the face of the block. "No way," she muttered. Suddenly, she bolted at it.

"Stop her! Don't let her get to that DigiDoor!" Puppetmon yelled in desperation. Woodmon suddenly rose up out of the ground in front of her, blocking her path. There was no time to stop. Instinctively, she leaped up into the air and pounced on one of the Woodmon, knocking him over. One of the others suddenly had her hair and pulled her up.

She kicked and yelled and did whatever she could to get free, but remained a captive. Puppetmon looked at her in disgust. "That DigiBlade will be mine," he snickered.

Dobermon, awakened by his best friend's screams, stirred from his dreams. "Black Beam!" he yelled. The beam of pure darkness shot out across the field and struck the Woodmon who had a hold of Gabbie's hair. The digimon burst into data and Gabbie dropped to the ground.

"Meddlesome pup!" The Dark Master yelled. Gabbie stood up and ran again for the DigiDoor. Her digivice fit perfectly and she smiled as she heard a tiny click. The doors spread apart, letting the brilliant reddish pink lights flow from the crack.

The DigiBlade floated out and rested right in her waiting palms. The DigiBlade took the shape of a Khopesh, a sickle-like Egyptian weapon. Everything felt perfect; the size, weight, and balance. All of it felt as if it were made for her.

The DigiDoor closed and her digivice floated back to her, the heart shaped Crest of Love burned into the back. The screen of the DigiBlade glowed that now-familiar reddish pink light and showed the crest. It came and clicked itself into place on the hilt of her new blade.

XXX

A note from the author: Hey guys! Don't forget to vote for who your favorite Digimon: Light Tamer is! Also, if you feel that I haven't developed any of the characters enough, PM me and ill try to fix that. I appreciate everybody who reads my story! Thank you so much!


	38. Sentiment

Gabbie admired the Chrome-Digizoid weapon. The khopesh. Her khopesh. Her DigiBlade. The blade of the sword curved upward from the hilt of the Egyptian style weapon. She had never held and object that felt like its only purpose was to be in her hands before, except maybe the digivice.

The other Tamers looked at her, a mix of awe and excitement etched on their faces. Brian had stood up now. "Digivolve your partner, Gabbie!" he yelled. "We have a fighting chance now! Give Dobermon your power!"

Dobermon's ears pricked up when he suddenly realized what was happening. Gabbie nodded and said, "You ready, Dobermon?"

"Ready as ever!" the only conscious digimon replied. "Dobermon, Digivolve to-!"

Data swirled around him, doubling his size, black armor encasing his entire body, his tail thickening and growing with power. The black shoulder armor took the likeness of dog heads and their eyes glowed yellow. White hair began growing from beneath his sturdy helmet as his data began to stabilize and he cried out, "Cerberumon!" he gave a loud roar as a battle cry.

"No!" Puppetmon yelled. "I won't let you win!" woodmon began climbing up out of the ground and the Tamers were suddenly surrounded. "Kill them all! Take their DigiBlades!" he ordered the digimon.

"C'mon, Gabbie! Hope called as she grabbed a new ball form a mushroomon. The two girls ran up the field then, followed by Cerberumon. The other Tamers shouted words of encouragement to their friends.

"Stop them!" Puppetmon commanded, fear causing his voice to go shrill. "Stop them stop them stop them!" He was jumping up and down like a child.

Hope and Gabbie passed the bomb back and forth, killing woodmon with their DigiBlades whenever they didn't have the ball. Cerberumon stuck close to them, clearing the way with his Hellfire attack. The fire burst from the digimon's mouth and engulfed any woodmon foolish enough to challenge his newfound power. "Hellfire!" he yelled over and over again, determined to protect his Tamer.

Hope pulled her short sword out of a dissolving digimon as Gabbie passed the ball back to her. "There you go, Hope! C'mon, lets go!" Gabbie called. Hope caught it and ran right through the data of a woodmon that Cerberumon killed. Gabbie ran ahead of Hope, slashing back and forth with her khopesh, destroying anything in her way. They had all tried to kill Dobermon. No she and Cerberumon were going to kill them.

Cerberumon leaped over Gabbie and used his hellfire attack on the goalie and several nearby woodmon. "Gabbie! Catch!" Hope kicked the ball straight up into the air and used her head to launch it towards Gabbie. The bomb flew over her head and without thinking, without her even acting, the DigiBlade jumped in her hand and struck the bomb. Its trajectory changed and the bomb sped straight into the unguarded Cherrymon. The digimon's data destabilized under the damage and it was gone in seconds.

"Hey!" Christina exclaimed. "The woodmon are dissolving too!" And sure enough, they were. The swarm of woodmon had started exploding into data like popcorn.

"They must've been connected to the life force of that Cherrymon somehow," Duane theorized. "That's rather interesting!" He let out a laugh.

"That's it, Puppetmon!" Brian yelled. "That's game over! We win! The deal was that you let us go free! Us and our digimon!"

"No way!" Puppetmon replied. He looked like he was about to cry. "You didn't win fairly! You must've cheated! Dokugumon! Get them! Take their DigiBlades! Give them to me!"

Puppetmon stood there and fumed. The swarm of dokugumon didn't move. Instead, they just stared at the Dark Master with those glowing red eyes.

"What are you waiting for?" Puppetmon screeched. "I ordered you to kill them!"

"They aren't doing anything," Gabbie mumbled to herself. "Now's our chance Cerberumon! Go! Attack Puppetmon!"

Cerberumon nodded in agreement and leaped across the field at Puppetmon. The Dark Master, still on the verge of crying, barely noticed when the big heavy digimon tackled him to the ground and started gnashing at his wooden throat. Puppetmon's heavy hammer was knocked onto the ground just a few feet away.

"Get off of me, you big dumb brute!" Puppetmon ordered. He fingered at the end of his hammer, trying to grab a hold of it.

"Hellfire!" Cerberumon yelled as the flames fell out of his mouth and covered the Dark Master.

"Yeah! Go Cerberumon!" Gabbie cheered. The other Tamers shouted cheers for Cerberumon as well.

"I said," started Puppetmon. With impossible strength, he kicked Cerberumon right in the rib cage and launched him upward into the air. "Get off of me!" the puppet digimon grabbed his revolver style hammer off of the ground and swung it around as Cerberumon came hurtling back downward. The hammer collided with Cerberumon's side and he was propelled across the field. Cerberumon crashed into the dirt and bounced once, twice, three times before skidding to a stop.

"Kill them! Kill the digidestined!" Puppetmon screamed at the stationary dokugumon. Still, they did not move.

Puppetmon swung his heavy hammer downward over Cerberumon, who quickly rolled away and stood back up. "Cerberumon!" Gabbie yelled, worry filling her voice.

"Hellfire!" the large digimon roared, allowing the flames to spill from his mouth. Puppetmon moved away as the flames began to fill the field. The fire raged on, coursing over the grass like a snake and attaching itself to the surrounding trees. The flames licked at the leaves of the shrubbery and the tall trees, shrinking down the green life, burning it all up. The Dark Master used the flames and the smoke as cover as he quickly dashed behind Cerberumon.

As Puppetmon rose his revolver hammer to strike Cerberumon, the eyes of the dog digimon's shoulder armor glowed brightly, and he was able to jump out of the way just in time. "How'd you do that?" Puppetmon screeched. "There's no way you could've seen me!"

"My armor isn't just for decoration," Cerberumon informed him. "Like the mighty Cerberus, I too have the power of three heads! All six of my eyes can see!" Then he leaped at Puppetmon through the flames and latched his jaw over the enemy's head, gnawing furiously.

"Let me go you stupid mutt!" Puppetmon ordered. "I am not your chew toy!"

Cerberumon shook the Dark Master ferociously as flames spilled out over Puppetmon's face. In retaliation, Puppetmon began slamming his cross on Cerberumon's face. The dog digimon yelped in surprise and let go. Puppetmon instantly took advantage and scrambled away from Cerberumon's maw.

"Dokugumon!" Puppetmon screeched after he stood up again. Rain started to pour down onto the battlefield, dowsing the flames and squelching them almost completely. The flames still rose a decent height into the air, but not like before. "I said kill them! I ordered you! Do as I say! I am your master! I am a Dark Master!" he started stomping his feet and looking at all of the dokugumon. He was nearly hysterical. "I hate you all! I'll never let any of you play with me again! You all cheat!"

"Shut up, you moron," Billy spoke as he stepped out of the darkness of the forest. "They don't take orders from you. They never have. I'm the one who filled their bodies with the Black Splinters after all."

After him stepped out Tyler, Meramon, Peter, and Dorugamon. DemiDevimon flew out and perched on Billy's shoulder. The leaves rustled again and a seventh figure appeared. The tall, feminine digimon wore a fox shaped helmet and wielded a powerful staff.

Sakuyamon towered over the boys in front of her. All eyes were on her, Billy, Peter, and Tyler. Billy spoke first, "I heard you were trying to take control of the DigiBlades for yourself. I also told you to keep them alive."

"Forget you and your orders!" Puppetmon yelled. "I'm stronger than any of you! I don't need friends!"

"Wrong choice." Billy spoke as calmly as if he'd ordered a fries from a burger joint. "Tyler, Peter. Go."

The two Tamers made their digimon digivolve together. Peter's spear glowed a bright yellow and the Crest of Hope appeared on the screen of his digivice. "Dorugamon digivolve to-!"

Dorugamon's blue fur began to turn a bright red and his wings expanded and turned into a silvery metal. His tail elongated and grew a golden spear head grew on the tip. A large horn protruded from his forehead and he grew a mean look on his face as his body became three times its size.

"-DoruGreymon!" the great dragon cried. He let off a stream of fire into the sky.

Meanwhile, Tyler took out his digivice and katana style DigiBlade. The katana had a gray aura around it as the digivice's screen showed the Crest of Reliability.

"Meramon, digivolve to-!" The fiery digimon seemed to have become more human like, showing skin and even a pair of pants with flame designs on them. He stood up taller than before and the fire that engulfed him turned into a blue color. A metal mask formed around his face as chains snake over his arms and chest. "SkullMeramon!" he finished.

The two digimon were enormous. They towered over the Tamers and even the tall Sakuyamon.

"C'mon guys," Brian called. "We need to move our digimon out of the way!" He grabbed the unconscious Agumon under the arms and tried to drag him away as DoruGreymon, SkullMeramon, and Cerberumon positioned themselves around Puppetmon.

The girls easily moved their digimon, both being lighter than the others. "No more hotdogs for you, buddy," Brian groaned as he slowly moved Agumon away.

"Quit complaining!" Duane reprimanded. Brian glanced over at him as he tugged with all his might to move the large Leomon out of the way. After Brian had moved Agumon, he had joined Duane and the girls and they eventually moved Leomon to a safe distance, however the battle had already begun.

"You're a fool, Puppetmon if you think that you can win against all of us," Billy said.

"Don't underestimate this guy!" Hope called. "He is a mega level after all!"

"Please," he scoffed back at her. In the background the four digimon had been trading blows. Puppetmon had sent SkullMeramon into a tree with a heavy swing from his revolver hammer. Cerberumon took the opportunity to pounce on his back and shoot Hellfire flames all over him. Cerberumon narrowly dodged DoruGreymon's huge foot as he stomped downward onto the puppet.

The Dark Master had managed to sit up just in time to catch the heavy foot and hold it above his head. Meanwhile, Billy had pulled out a slim looking laptop and set it up on the ground. "You see, Light, I have all the data on Puppetmon that I need to defeat him. It's all right here, saved to this computer." He typed a few command into the keyboard and brought up a list of BASIC coding. "This is Puppetmon's coding. Everything he has ever been is this right here. This is Puppetmon."

DoruGreymon pushed down harder and Puppetmon sank into the ground, which had begun to crack around him under the pressure. "Now!" Cerberumon yelled. "A joint attack should work! Hellfire!"

"Metal Fireball!" SkullMeramon yelled.

"Metal Meteor!" Cried DoruGreymon.

All three of their attacks struck the wooden digimon and engulfed him in a hug fiery explosion, knocking over Brian, Hope, Duane, and Christina. As the fire died down, Billy shut his laptop and started to walk away. Through the smoke, the others could see movement though.

"You'd better turn around, Billy," Brian told him.

Puppetmon rose up out of the ground and said, "You'll have to do better than that to kill me, boy."

Billy spun around on the spot. "No! This can't be!" He thrust open the laptop once more and studied the coding. "No! Everything in here says that you should be destroyed!"

"Give it up, Billy!" Duane told him. "Digimon are more than programs. Don't you know that yet?"

"Y-yes of course I know that!" Billy barked back. "But everything has limits! Especially in a world ruled by numbers! This isn't possible!"

"Well, looks like it is possible," Brian told him.

Billy grunted in frustration. "DemiDevimon! Sakuyamon! Get in there and fight!"

"Yes, boss! Right away! DemiDevimon, digivolve to-!" He flew into the air as data surrounded him. Soon the tall, slender form of the silent Devimon floated in front of them. He then digivolved again into NeoDevimon. Sakuyamon also leaped into the battle. All five digimon surrounded the Dark Master.

"Puppet Pummel!" he yelled. Puppetmon grabbed the cross off of his back and threw it. The cross spun around the battlefield and struck all five of them before any of them had even flinched.

"Oh now you're gonna get it, puppet boy!" Sakuyamon shrieked. "Amethyst Wind!" She yelled. Sakuyamon spun her staff around and kicked up the wind. With the storming air came cherry blossoms, which flew at Puppetmon. The Dark Master quickly evaded the attack and kicked Sakuyamon in the chin.

"Hellfire!" The flames spouted from Cerberumon's mouth before Sakuyamon had even fell to the ground.

"Metal Fireball!" SkullMeramon yelled as well. He threw the molten metal at the puppet digimon.

"You're still too weak to defeat me!" Puppetmon cried. He swung his hammer and deflected both attacks.

"No way!" Brian exclaimed.

"How is he that strong?" Gabbie asked to nobody in particular.

"Puppet Pummel!" he swung the heavy hammer down on Cerberumon's back and then easily knocked SkullMeramon aside as well.

"Our turn," Billy said. "Go, NeoDevimon!" The dark digimon appeared behind Puppetmon in the blink of an eye and struck him with a Stun Claw attack. The Dark Mast flew forward through the air, apparently paralyzed.

"Bloody Tower!" The monstrous DoruGreymon screamed in his inhuman voice. He charged at Puppetmon and launched him straight up into the sky. He shot his barbed tail directly at Puppetmon and the point pierced the digimon all the way through.

"Hah! He got you good!" Brian cheered. His four friend cheered with him, but Billy had a horrified look on his face.

"Now way!" the dark boy exclaimed. "That just isn't possible!" Everybody stopped their cheered and saw what had happened. Skewered on the end of DoruGreymon's tail was NeoDevimon, not Puppetmon.

"What!" Hope yelled in anger. "Then where's Puppetmon?"

The Tamers heard chuckling and looked at once to the source. Puppetmon had managed to subdue Sakuyamon and hold her by the neck. She struggled to get free, but to no avail. "Let me go!" She demanded of him. The battered partner digimon struggled to get up. NeoDevimon had a gaping hole in his abdomen.

"Never!" Puppetmon yelled. "You are all weak fools! You eight "Chosen Children" will fall to us Dark Masters! We will destroy you, and then the worlds!"

During Puppetmon's psychotic rant, the digimon had been slowly positioning themselves around the Dark Master. Cerberumon nodded and cried, "Now!"

Distracted by the call, Puppetmon loosened his grip on Sakuyamon a little. She broke free and elbowed him off of her. She leaped away just as SkullMeramon yelled "Flame Chain!" and launched his chains at Puppetmon. The chains wrapped around him and bound his arms to his sides. SkullMeramon lit them on fire and the flames scorched the puppet, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Inferno Gate!" Cerberumon yelled. She shot a black beam out of his mouth and burned a round hole into the ground. Inside the hole was nothing but blackness. "It's time to go back where you belong, Puppetmon!"

"Puppetmon, for your crimes against the digital world, I sentence you to an eternity in the Dark Area. Parole denied," Sakuyamon spoke as she brought up her staff.

"Shut up and finish him, Sakuyamon!" Billy ordered. "Go NeoDevimon! Destroy him!"

NeoDevimon, despite the hole in his stomach, charged with Sakuyamon and the two of them attacked Puppetmon, pushing him backwards until he fell into the hole just as SkullMeramon released his chains. Puppetmon held onto the edge of the hole for dear life.

"Dear, dear Puppetmon!" a never before heard voice gleefully chided. "You have let these wretched humans defeat you! How pathetic." The Tamers looked overhead. Above the canopy of the forest floated a jester looking digimon.

"And just who are you?" Brian demanded.

"You know, I get really sick of these digimon just popping up out of nowhere to fight us," Hope said exasperatedly.

"My name is Piedmon, and I am a Dark Master. But enough about me." He slowly floated downward and landed on the ground. "Puppetmon you have failed to kill the Chosen Children, although, I do thank you for managing to gather them all in one spot for me. I would like to play with my new toys before I destroy them all!"

"Master," Puppetmon whimpered as he tried to pull himself out of the Dark Area portal. "Please spare me, Piedmon! Please! I'll kill them! I can still fight!"

"I'm sorry but you have outlived your usefulness. Goodbye Puppetmon. Trump Sword!" He pulled out the four swords from his back and threw them in several directions. Each one teleported and rematerialized itself inside of Puppetmon.

"Master!" Puppetmon pleaded once more, a hand outstretched towards the sky. "Please!" and then he dissolved into data, which spewed from the Dark Area hole and flew towards Billy. He held out his digivice and downloaded all of the data. He pocketed the digivice without a word.

"And now that nasty business is over, let's play, shall we?" Piedmon exclaimed happily as he clapped his hands together.

"Don't forget about us, Piedmon." A large metal-clad snakelike digimon slithered onto the battlefield. "I am MetalSeadramon! I too am a Dark Master."

Beside him rose a great metal head out of the forest. The gargantuan machine crashed the trees down in front of him to make a path..

"Machinedramon," Brian growled. "You destroyed my house!"

The great machine laughed. "Not I, sir! No, just my body. I've had had a few upgrades since I last encountered the eight Chosen Children! I know have three Psycho Blasters which have both been augmented with sixty-seven percent more power and my Chrome-Digizoid body has been thickened by twenty-six percent! Not to mention I have twice as much ammo capacity, all missiles equipped with heat seeking technology and a nuclear reactor core powers me! I am not the same digimon who destroyed your house, though I do contain the memory stored inside of me. No, instead I am invincible!"

"I'll show you invincible!" Brian yelled. "Agumon! Wake up and digivolve!" he kicked his partner hard in the side and the digimon stirred.

"Huh, wha-?" Agumon asked sleepily as he awoke. "What's happening?"

"C'mon! We gotta fight!" the Tamer told him. "Get up!"

"Brian, just this once, please don't be a fool!" Billy told him. "We just barely won the battle against one Dark Master. He was the weakest of them too! We have no hope of defeating all three remaining Dark Masters! If you want to stay and fight, that's fine you can go ahead and kill yourself. But I'm gonna need you in one piece, so how about you follow my lead and let's run while our legs are still attached?"

"C'mon, Brian," Hope tugged on his arm. "Let's listen to Billy this time! Let's get out of here!"

"Yeah, man," Duane agreed. "Let's get out of here and think up a strategy or something!"

"All of you think that?" Brian asked of his friends. They all nodded. "Alright, then let's go!"

All the digimon woke up as their Tamers woke them up and they ran off towards the forest. "You think I'm going to let you get away that easily?" Piedmon asked as he laughed hysterically. "Trump Sword!" the four swords shot out once again and teleported around, each of the eight Tamers dodging them just barely as the swords aimed for them in turn. Piedmon laughed even harder as he ran after them into the forest.

"Oh, this oughtta be fun!" Machinedramon said as his three Psycho Blasters tore through parts of the forest searching for the digidestined.

"Yeah, well just don't hit me with those things," MetalSeadramon ordered. He slithered off after Piedmon and the digidestined.

The Tamers and their digimon ran hard, but Piedmon still had managed to catch up with them. They broke apart and hid in different places, some under bushes, some behind rocks and trees.

"Oh where, oh where could those pests have hid themselves form me?" Piedmon taunted them. "Well, I suppose I'll never find them and I might as well give up!"

Brian, who had been holding his breath behind a tree this whole time, let out a breath of relief.

"Gotcha," Piedmon said as he heard Brian breathe. "Trump Sword!" To Brian's surprise, the sword had materialized itself in the tree not two inches from his head. He gasped in surprise and fear ran out of his hiding place.

"Brian! Wait!" some of the other Tamer's called. Soon all the Tamers and partner digimon had been capture and thrown into a pile surrounded by the three Dark Masters.

Brian, Hope, Duane, Christina, Gabbie, Billy, Peter, Tyler, and all the digimon sat there with fear filled hearts as they were certain that they were dead. It was then that Sakuyamon leaped out of the forest and struck swung at Piedmon with her staff. He easily parried the blow with one of his swords and the two of them began trading blows.

"You're pretty good!" Piedmon teased as he blocked every single one of her attacks. "But not good enough!" he deflected one more blow and planted his foot square in her abdomen, knocking her back. "Trump Sword." He snapped his fingers and a sword appeared inside of Sakuyamon's chest.

She gasped for breath and realized it would be her last. Her eyes stopped glowing red and she said, "I am sorry Gabbie." The Black Splinter inside of her shot out and dissolved into data.

"Sakuyamon!" Gabbie cried, tears streaming down at the inevitable loss of her friend. "Don't leave! You've helped out a lot!"

"It's okay, Gabbie. I've finally repented for the sins I committed all those thousands of years ago…." Sakuyamon told her. "I've seen what you humans can do. You'll save this world and yours…" then she burst and her data floated away into the wind.

"What a foolish sentiment," MetalSeadramon laughed.

"Shut up!" Christina yelled. "You don't know anything!"

"I say we kill them now and get it over with!" Machinedramon threatened.

"No!" Piedmon barked. "I want to play with them a little bit." A fiendish smile flickered across his evil face. "Clown Trick!" he yelled as he threw a white sheet over their heads.


	39. Scroll Key

Daemon walked through the streets of San Diego. It was a chilly night and he wrapped his cloak around him tighter. He never slowed or changed course, he just walked through the street calmly and determinedly. The starry night sky shone down above him.

He turned down an alleyway and knocked three times on a grimy looking metal door. An eye slot opened and a teen said, "What's the password?"

Daemon removed his hood and said, "I don't need a password. Now let me in before I burst down this door and tear out your insides, inch by inch. I'll enjoy every minute of it as I watch your still live body scream in pain and agony."

The teen shook with fear and opened the door saying, "Very sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Daemon, sir! Please forgive me!"

Daemon put his hood back up and said, "Shut up." He then walked past the boy and entered the poorly lit building. He went down the stairs where a crowd of children and teens had assembled around an arena. They were cheering on the fight inside, several kids betting their allowances and dealing dugs.

Inside the arena a Togemon was fighting with a Lynxmon, and the Lynxmon was winning. "Needle Spray!" the Togemon called out.

Lynxmon easily dodged the attack and circled around the champion level opponent. "Thermal Mane!" it called out as flames burst from its mane and struck Togemon in the back. The giant cactus screamed and burst into data, which was absorbed but the Lynxmon.

"No!" a boy yelled. "Togemon! My Togemon!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," the boy who tamed the Lynxmon said. "You lost, now pay up!" The boy reluctantly handed over his money and walked away, crying a little.

The battles continued on and Daemon silently watched them. Four battles later, it was announced that the tag team battles would begin. Two girls walked up to the arena and shook hands with their opponents. Girls, Sara and Taylor, used a Witchmon and a Liamon while their opposing team had a Nanimon and a Starmon.

The battle raged on, all four digimon trading blows and attacking each other. Partway through the battle, the girls took out their digivices and connected the two together.

"Witchmon!" one digimon yelled. "Liamon!" cried the other. Then together they said, "DNA digivolve to-!" the two digimon fused their energy together and formed into one mass. What was left standing there was a tall woman-like digimon with two tails and a leopard print gown. "Persiamon!"

"What?" the crowd went berserk. This must be the first time they've seen this before, thought Daemon.

"Helter Skelter!" Persiamon said and she began to belly dance around the arena. The Nanimon and the Starmon appeared to be enchanted and they soon fell asleep against each other. The Persiamon stepped on Nanimon's head and crushed him, dispersing his data all over the floor and absorbing it. Then she danced her way to the Starmon and said, "Vampire Dance." As the Starmon slept, she drank all of his blood until he too dissolved into data and was absorbed.

"Your digimon are dead," Sara said.

"Now pay up," Taylor agreed.

"No way!" cried the other two boys. "You cheated! You only had one digimon! This was a team battle!"

"Both digimon," Sara started.

"Are still there," Taylor finished. "We will show you."

They pressed a button on their digivices and Persiamon was torn apart. What was left standing there was the Sara's Witchmon and Taylor's Liamon. "You see?" Sara said.

"Just pay them and get out of here!" some body from the crowd roared. Several spectators agreed. The opponents finally handed over the money and left.

After the battles were over and the crowd started to disperse, Daemon approached the girls from the earlier fight. "That was fairly impressive."

"Thanks," the girls said in unison. "Now what do you want?"

"You seem to be the only ones who have figured out how to do that little trick. In the Digital World, we call it 'jogress'."

"The Digital World?" Sara seemed excited. "Taylor, do you think-?"

"That he's a digimon?" Taylor agreed.

"I am. My name is Daemon. I think that what you two girls want is power. I can give it to you. Just come to the Digital World with me, and ill show you how we can control the worlds."

The two girls grinned and followed Daemon back to the digiport he had entered through earlier.

XXX

Hope lay there with her eyes closed for a long time. She had no idea where she was and was afraid to find out. She couldn't feel anybody immediately around her. She did feel that she was lying on a soft bed, though. After a little while, she was able to muster up enough courage to take a look around. She opened one eye first, then the other and sat up straight.

"Gennai!" she cried happily when she saw the old man. "Oh I'm so happy to see you! How'd I get in you house?" She paused for a moment and then said, "This is just a dream, isn't it?"

"Oh no, you silly girl," the old man said as he poured some tea. "You're actually dead. Would you like some of this tea?" Hope was too shocked to accept or decline his offer. "I'm kidding!" he laughed exuberantly. "I swear, the youth of today cannot take a joke! Yes, Hope you are dreaming."

"Okay," she replied after taking a few deep breaths and regaining her composure. "So then, where am I?"

"You have been transported by Piedmon to the third of the Digital Keys," he informed. "Welcome to Scroll Island! This is the most dangerous of all the keys, so you must be extraordinarily careful, Hope. It is taking nearly all of my strength to contact you through all the evil on this island, and I cannot hold it for much longer. Go now, Hope! Go and find your friends!"

"What do you mean find my friends? Are we separated?"

"Lightning Paw!" the old man yelled and he punched her hard in the chin, flying her backwards.

She landed in the dirt and sat up again, "What the hell, Gennai?" But she was no longer looking at Gennai. In front of her stood Gatomon with her paw outstretched in front of her.

"Gennai?" Gatomon asked as she put her paw down. "What are you talking about?"

"What? Nothing! Why'd you hit me?" she was in a forest with great huge trees surrounding her and colorful plants scattered around.

"You were sitting straight up with your eyes glazed over," the digimon replied. "You were mumbling to yourself. You had Brian and I scared!"

"It's okay now, Hope," Brian said kneeling by her. "Any idea what that was all about?"

"No," she lied. "I don't know. Where's Agumon?"

"Sleeping over there," Brian smiled and pointed over at his partner. "We were all asleep. He's been out the longest though. I woke up first, then saw you sitting and mumbling so I woke up Gatomon. She reacted with a Lightning Paw attack," Brian laughed and Gatomon looked a little sheepish.

"Sorry, Hope," the cat digimon said.

"No, it's okay," Hope laughed. "It sounds like I needed it! So are we all that there is here?"

"Right in the immediate area, as far as I can tell," Brian said as he stood up and glanced around. "I've tried calling our friends but I got nothing back. Looks like we're all alone. I wonder where we are?"

"We're on Scroll Island," Hope told him without thinking.

"What?" Gatomon asked. "How do you know that?"

"I… er… well, it makes sense right?" she lied again. Why do I keep lying to them about Gennai? she wondered to herself. "We've already been to the other two islands, so it must only make sense that we'd be sent here…. Right?"

"Yeah, I suppose so," Brian replied as he pulled out the map. "The map shows this place to be mostly forests. There's a volcano called Mt. Seraph on the south end and just north of that is a peninsula. There's a heavily fortified city there surrounded by mountains. Two more peninsulas jut out on either side and wrap around the city too. It looks like the only way in is through the front gate."

"What? You want to go there?" Hope asked.

"Well, it's getting late now," Brian replied. "But, yeah I think we should set out for there tomorrow morning." Brian looked around a little bit more and finally said, "This looks as good of a spot as any to set up camp."

"Why are we alive?" Hope interjected. She looked at Brian sternly.

"I don't know," he said. "By all accounts, they had us right where they wanted us. We should be dead."

"But we aren't," Gatomon told them. "So I say we put it behind us and be on our way!"

"It could mean that we weren't right where the Dark Masters wanted us," Hope said. "It could mean that now we are right where they want us. Here on this island. Maybe we're just playthings to them…." She trailed off as her worries come over her.

"Hope, listen to me," Brian said. "They let us go. We are free. Let's just find a way off this island and out of this world and go home, okay? Let's just go home."

She looked up at him. "Do you really think we can just go home? Is it really that easy?"

"We're digidestined right? If we want something bad enough, then the digital world will accommodate us. It's always happened like that. We all wanted to be something more before we came here, and now we are the Chosen Children, or at least that's what everybody who wants to kill us keeps saying. So we just need to keep wanting our lives back and then we will eventually get it, right?"

She smiled back at him as the sky darkened. "Yeah, that sounds right!" She stood up now and hugged him. "Thanks, Brian."

Awkwardly, Brian hugged her back. "Err, you're welcome! I guess." He laughed and they pulled away from each other. The sky had turned to night now and they set up their camp. Agumon had woken up by now and was starved. An agreeing rumble came from the other three's stomachs so they quickly made up a dinner from what food they found in the surrounding trees.

"Well, I'm gonna hit the hay," Brian said as he kneeled down onto the ground and fluffed and imaginary pillow. He smoothed out the grass and laid down. "Good night, everybody."

"Yeah, good night, Brian," Hope said as she laid herself down a few feet away.

As she closed her eyes she heard Agumon yell, "Cannon ball!" The heavy dinosaur leaped into the air and landed on top of Brian, who cried out in pain.

"Agumon!" Brian yelled as he pushed his partner off of him. Everybody was laughing. Soon the fire was out and everybody had begun drifting off to sleep. Everybody except for the pair of eyes that silently watched them from the shadows.

XXX

"Help!" he yelled as loud as he could. "Hurry up! I can't hold on much longer!" Duane swung his legs up as he tried to pull himself up higher. He was holding on to a root that had pushed its way out of the rocks on the side of the cliff. "Help! Somebody help me!"

"Duane?" he heard a girl's voice call down. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me! Christina! Please come help me!" he yelled as loudly as possible.

"But, where are you?" Lunamon called. "We can't see you anywhere!"

"I'm hanging off the side of this cliff!" he yelled back. A moment later he saw Christina and Lunamon's heads lean over the side of the cliff. A big grin showed on Duane's face when he saw his friends.

"There you are!" Christina said. "Hey, Leomon! We found him!"

Following the sound of thundering footsteps, Leomon leaned over the edge as well and laughed. "Got yourself in a real pickle this time, haven't you Duane?"

"Shut up and help me up!" Duane retorted. Leomon laughed some more and Christina shot him and apologetic look.

Leomon, with his great strength, uprooted a tree and held it over the edge for his Tamer to grab a hold of. Duane climbed into the tree as Leomon hefted him up and over onto solid ground. He then tossed the tree over the edge and sat down next to Duane.

"How'd you get down there anyway?" Christina asked him.

"I was looking for everybody when I tripped and fell over. I rolled down the hill and off the side and I grabbed onto the root and just held on."

"That sucks, but at least you're alive!" Leomon patted Duane on the back hard.

He coughed and said, "Yeah, at least there's that. Have you guys seen the others?"

"No, we haven't," Lunamon said gravely. "We haven't searched much though. We just woke up."

"What I want to know is why Piedmon let us go?" Christina puzzled.

"I had some time to think while I was hanging down there," Duane told her. "I don't think that they have let us go yet. I think this is part of their game."

They looked around as if expecting an attack. They seemed to be on some sort of mountain, sparsely populated with a few plants here and there. The trees were pinecone bearers and were thin and tall with plenty of space between them. The ground was mostly covered in pine needles and wood chips with few shrubs. They could see a decent ways off, and there didn't appear to be any nearby digimon.

"Wow this sun is hot, isn't it?" Christina complained a little. "I don't see why they don't just kill us and get it over with?"

"We aren't strong enough to beat them anyway," Duane said. "We are just minor nuisances who have managed to beat a couple evil digimon. But those digimon were nothing compared to the Dark Masters. And I have a feeling that Daemon is even stronger. Although we haven't seen much of him, I think that he is the real power behind all the evil in this world."

"What do they want with us?" Christina asked.

"Several of the bad digimon have called us name's that aren't ours. Dragomon called Hope Hikari once, remember? And I've been called Koushiro too. Those names sound Japanese to me. I wonder if they knew those people, and we are some sort of reincarnations of them. Maybe our DigiBlades used to belong to them?"

"Yeah, maybe." She looked a bit confused. "So they want to kill us because we're the others guys?"

"Or we at least represent them," Duane replied. "I don't think that we're the only digidestined in the world. We might be now, but I don't know if its always been that way."

"I see," Leomon thought for a moment. "Well, where do we go now?"

"Maybe we should get off this mountain?" Christina suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Duane agreed. The four of them stood up and started walking down the slope.

Little did they know that they were being followed.

XXX

"Are we there yet?" Peter groaned. "It's hot and I'm hungry!"

"No," Tyler said, annoyed. "Does it look like we are anywhere at all? Look around you! We are in the middle of the Digital Wastes once again! We have no water, no food, and I'm starving too."

Everywhere they looked was sand, dust, and heat waves off in the distance. Mirages of water surrounded them and played with their eyes. The sun pounded down on them, threatening to break them under its power. Dorumon and Peter walked silently behind Tyler and Meramon.

Dorumon seemed to want to play, growling and nipping at Peter's hand. Meramon was right at home in the heat. Tyler and Peter were sweating and exhausted from their day's walk.

"Where are we, anyway?" Peter managed to spit out through his dry mouth several minutes later.

"My guess is that we're on the third island," Tyler replied sourly. "Though I wasn't aware that there was any Wastes here. This is new territory for Billy, so somebody else must be collecting the data here. But for what reason, I don't know."

"Who inhabits this island?" Peter asked.

"The angels do," Meramon replied.

"And that's why I'm confused about what's creating the Wastes," Tyler interjected. "Angel digimon have no need for the data. They prefer it to be left in the natural order." He suddenly stopped and looked ahead. Peter and Dorumon bumped into him and fell down.

"Hey!" Peter cried. "What's going on?"

Tyler pointed ahead and said, "Look! A digimon!"

Straight ahead of them, looking nowhere in particular, was a Doggymon. He was very cartoon looking and had the letter "D" on his chest.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Tyler asked Peter once the boy had stood up.

"Food?"

Tyler nodded and all four of them bolted off after the Doggymon. The surprised digimon leaped up into the air and ran off into the other direction as the two boys and their partners chased after him.

XXX

"Boss! Boss! Wake up, boss!" DemiDevimon flew over and landed on his master's chest.

Billy stirred a little and said, "Huh? Wha-what's going on? Ungh… my head…." He sat up as the digimon fluttered to the ground. He put a hand up to his head and then rubbed the sleep away from his eyes.

"We have a bit of a problem, boss," DemiDevimon said.

"What kind of a problem?" the dark boy asked as his eyes narrowed to his partner. DemiDevimon pointed over to the sleeping girl and the digimon that sat up, watching over her. "Oh, I see. Hello Dobermon."

The digimon grunted his response and just stared Billy down. "What should we do about them, boss?" DemiDevimon asked. "I vote we leave them here."

Billy looked around to get a good idea of where 'here' was. They seemed to be in some sort of city alleyway. Neon lights shone off in the street beyond. The sky was dark and the air had a bite to it. Filthy trashcans littered the area around them next to a dumpster. The ground was wet and the walls were grimy. "We can't just leave her here," Billy finally said.

"What do you care, Billy?" DemiDevimon asked. "She's just a girl, isn't she?"

Why do I care? Billy thought. "Yeah, you're right. Let's just go." Dobermon grunted in disgust as Billy stood up. DemiDevimon flew up and landed on his shoulder and the two of them started walking out of the alley and into the street. "Goodbye, Gabbie," he muttered so that the small digimon couldn't hear him.

He had gotten a few yards down the street when he heard, "Hey! Billy! Wait for us!"

The dark boy turned around and saw Gabbie and Dobermon running towards him. "Oh, what do you two want?" he asked incredulously.

They came to a stop in front of him and Gabbie said, "Well, I don't know where we are. I kinda thought maybe we should stick together."

"No." Billy turned around and kept walking down the street. Soon he started hearing footsteps behind him. Quick as lightning, he drew the sword off of his back and spun around, sticking the point against Gabbie's throat.

Dobermon instantly got into an attack position and barked at Billy. "Put the weapon down!" the digimon yelled.

"It's okay, Dobermon. He won't hurt me."

"How are you so sure?" Billy asked as he pressed the point harder against the girl's neck.

"Because I don't think you're really as evil as everybody else thinks," she told him. The remark caught Billy off guard and he loosened the pressure off her neck. She pushed the DigiBlade away from her neck and he put it back in its scabbard.

"You don't know anything about me," He retorted, turning away from her.

"I know that you didn't kill me back at Daemon's fortress." She leaned so that she could see his face better. "I also know that you gave me advice to save myself. You could've let me die, but you didn't."

Billy turned all the way around and kept walking. He heard the footsteps of Gabbie and Dobermon again. "Why are you following me?" he yelled as he spun around again.

"I think we can help each other out," she replied with a smile.

"Maybe we should just do as he says and go our own way," Dobermon prompted her.

"That's a good plan," DemiDevimon sneered. "Go play in the street, mutt! I hope you get hit by something!"

Dobermon growled. "How about I tear those wings from that bulbous head of yours, eh? I'll show you what pain is like."

"Shut up, DemiDevimon," Billy barked.

"Let's not start any fights," Gabbie said to her partner. "We used to make a good team, Billy. I don't have anywhere to be, so I might as well stick with you."

"Fine," Billy allowed. "But if either of you two get on my nerves, I'll kill you."

"Uh huh, I'm sure," Gabbie teased.

"Let's just get out of here." Billy turned and started walking again.

Gabbie and Dobermon jogged up to walk beside him. "Any idea where we are?" Gabbie asked.

"Probably Scroll Key," Billy said. "It's the third island in this chain and home of the angels. Chances are that this is their great city, a mecca of all that is good and pure." He said it with disgust.

Gabbie glanced around as they walked through the nighttime city. It was dirty and cold. "Doesn't look to friendly to me."

"Maybe they hired a new decorator?" DemiDevimon suggested.

"Yeah, maybe," Billy said, warily looking around. "Stop. Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Dobermon asked.

"That thumping." Billy strained his ears more. Suddenly, the wall of a building fifteen feet in front of them burst open. Dust and bricks flew everywhere.

The Tamers and their digimon stood there, waiting. They soon heard laughter from the hole in the wall. "Well, look what the cat dragged in, boys! We seem to have a few guests in our town!" A tall, thin digimon flanked by two rather large ones walked out of the hole and faced the Tamers.

The two fat digimon were clothed in gray, rubber jumpsuits with gas masks attached to a tank on their backs. The taller, thin digimon was dressed in bright red colors. Underneath his sleeves protruded five sharp, metal claws. His feet were decorated in blades on both sides and his flaming red hair shot up out of his head.

"Troopmon, attack!" the tall skinny digimon said.

XXX


	40. And the Plot Thickens

"Wow, what is—"

"-This place?" Taylor finished Sara's sentence.

Daemon led the girls through the forest to where they could see his new fortress, the City of Memory in the middle of the Monitor continent. The huge, towering castle that the demon lord digimon now called his home, sat right in the center of the city. The entire city overlooked a lake that was shaped like a power symbol. Neither the city nor the lake had any vegetation surrounding it. Instead, the ground was just a jagged, gray slag.

"Girls," Daemon said to his new generals. "This is the Digital World. This continent is called Monitor and that city in front of you is the City of Memory."

Sara, Taylor, and their digimon, Witchmon and Liamon mouthed their fascination. "This place," Taylor began.

"Is more than we could've imagined!" Sara finished. "Can we go see it?"

"Ah, but of course, my dears!" Daemon put a hand on their shoulders and walked out in front, leading them down to the city. Sara and Taylor followed him obediently and entered through the large metal gates.

The city seemed to be completely empty, but very clean. There wasn't a spot to be seen anywhere. The buildings were made out of the smoothest and glossiest materials the two girls had ever seen. The whole city seemed to sparkle and gleam. It was the most beautiful thing that the two friends had ever seen.

Daemon was silent until they reached the castle. "This, ladies, is Lan Castle! And it will be your new home," he told them as they entered the huge building. The floors were clear as crystal and looked like circuit board paths ran along them. The walls were pure white marble. The inside seemed bigger than the outside.

He showed them to their room. Inside were two of the most comfortable looking beds they had ever seen. "When you're all settled in," Daemon said, "we will begin preparations for the army. I was hoping that you could point me in the direction of the best Tamers you know of, both for the army, and to become tactical generals like yourselves. You two of course will have the highest ranks in my army and will take orders from none other than me."

"Yes lord Daemon," the two said at the same time. Their digimon nodded as well.

"We've already been thinking about who you might like to have as subordinate generals," Sara said.

"We have produced a list of the top ranking champions of the Underground Digi-Battle Arena," Taylor put in. She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her master.

"Taylor and I have agreed unanimously on who would be the best choices for generals in your army."

"The first four on the list are the most powerful, and will serve you best, we believe," the two finished together.

Daemon pocketed the list with a grin. "I made a good decision when I chose you two." He walked off without another word.

XXX

Sunlight began to shine through the trees as Brian, Hope, Agumon, and Gatomon walked through the forest. There was a light breeze that ruffled the leaves of all the plant life. The four friends walked together in silence through the thick forest.

"So we're gonna head to the city in the center of the island, right?" Hope asked, just to start a conversation.

"That's the only civilization shown here on my map," Brian said as he pulled out the dusty parchment again. He stopped to unravel it and take a closer look. "We just need to figure out where we are first. Then we can decide how to get to the city. Chances are that somebody there can help us find the others and maybe even help us get home."

"Alright, so we need to get someplace really high up!" Gatomon said.

"What will that do?" Agumon asked, confused.

"You dolt!" Gatomon smacked him upside the head. "If we are up high, then we can see around us and look for a landmark on the map and figure out where we are!"

"Oh, yeah." Agumon clutched the back of his head where Gatomon struck him. "Why did you hit me so hard?"

Gatomon raised another hand but Hope grabbed her wrist and shushed her. "Did you hear that?" They all paused and listened.

After a little while, Brian said, "What'd you hear, Hope?"

"I just thought I head something in the forest," she said quietly. "Like a twig breaking or something."

They listened a little longer. "It must be nothing," Brian said. "C'mon, lets keep moving."

"Yeah," Hope said looking around. "Must've been nothing." They all started on their way again, looking for any landmark that would tell them where they might be.

XXX

Duane, Christina, Leomon, and Lunamon made camp that night inside of a cave they had found. When they woke up, they had set out once again in an attempt to get off of the mountain that they found themselves on.

"I hate this landscape," Christina groaned. "The trees are bland, the ground is nothing but pine needles, and there is no real plant life around except pine trees and sagebrush!"

"It looks just like where you, Tyler, and I live, back in Oregon," Duane said, "Doesn't it?"

"Yeah, that's probably why I hate it," Christina said. "It's a lot hotter here though."

"You had Lunamon in the Real World before you came here, didn't you?" Leomon asked her.

"Yea I did," Christina said. "I met her right after summer started actually."

"Yep!" Lunamon said from atop her Tamer's head. "Christina says that she found me as an egg. I hid in her room after I hatched and we became best friends quickly. She didn't want anybody to know about me, although she told me a lot about you and Tyler."

Suddenly the ground began to rumble and shake around them. The trees grew dark and decayed as tombstones shot up out of the ground all around them.

"Duane!" Christina yelled. "What's going on?" All the rocking and rumbling dropped her and Duane to their knees. Leomon stood straight up, an unmoving statue with his weapon drawn.

When the ground finally stopped shaking, Duane and Christina stood up hesitantly, their digivices out, awaiting an attack. Their muscles were tense and their breathing had stopped.

"H-hello?" Duane called finally. Nothing called back. The air was colder now. They could see their breath. The tombstones littered the area for as far as they could see.

"What happened?" Christina asked, finally gaining courage.

"It looks like we're in a graveyard," Leomon said as he put his sword away.

"Why are you putting that away!" Christina yelled. "We could be in danger!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Leomon told her. "It's just a graveyard. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"Just a graveyard that sprung up out of the ground before our eyes," Duane said gruffly.

"Well, if you two are so afraid, then lets try to walk out of here," the big lion digimon suggested. "Might as well keep trying to get off the mountain."

XXX

"The fools." Piedmon stood in the middle of a shadowed room. The whole place was dark. The only thing he could see was the large TV set in front of him. The screen showed images of the eight digidestined children trapped on the island. "They are doing exactly what we wanted them to do." He laughed maniacally as he sucked on his fruit smoothie. The cold blast of delicious flavors filled his mouth. "Oh, yeah…" he moaned in pleasure. "Oh, this tastes marvelous! I'll give the humans one thing, they know food!"

"Piedmon," a voice from behind spoke. "What is the progress?"

"It's moving along very nicely, Machinedramon." Piedmon leaned back in his chair as the huge mechanical digimon barely pressed himself out of the darkness. Piedmon slurped down the smoothie through the straw some more. "Koushiro and Mimi have activated the graveyard on the mountain while Taichi and Hikari are attempting to reach the city." Piedmon could barely contain his laughter as he said the last part.

"I will report to Lord Daemon at once then," Machinedramon said as he disappeared once more into the shroud of darkness.

"Yes, report back to 'Lord' Daemon…" Piedmon emptied his plastic cup with a loud slurp. "In the meantime, I will allow the vampires to destroy the children so that I can absorb their data and become all powerful!"\

XXX

Tyler tripped and slammed his chin into the dirt. Peter, Meramon, and Dorumon soon toppled over on him as well. "Get off of me!" he yelled as he pushed his friends off. The Doggymon stood in front of them and snickered.

"I want to eat it!" Peter yelled as he scrambled off after the annoying digimon.

Doggymon put up hand for Peter to stop. Peter sat there on his hands and knees and blinked. Doggymon pulled on his elastic wrist to show that he had nothing up his sleeve, then again on the other arm. He stretched out his elastic hand to create a curtain, and when he snapped it back into place, Doggymon was holding a present, neatly wrapped in a red bow.

"Oh! Hey!" Peter exclaimed. "It's a present!"

Doggymon stretched his elastic hand all the way to them and dropped it in front of Peter's face. The digimon snickered and ran away as Peter tore into the package.

"Peter! No!" Tyler yelled. Dorumon bit into the package as soon as Peter had the paper torn off. The box exploded in their faces and Peter and Dorumon were covered in black.

"Why, you little," Peter yelled as he stood up and ran after Doggymon. "I'll get you! And I'll eat you too!" Dorumon growled and snarled as the two tore off into the wastes after the snickering digimon.

"Guess we better go help him, Meramon," Tyler said forlornly.

XXX

"Splendid Attack!" the two fat digimon yelled as they came at Billy and Gabbie.

"Gabbie! Get out of the way!" Billy yelled as he grabbed her and pulled her away. He then drew his broadsword and joined Cerberumon and the already digivolved Devimon. "I'll take the one in the middle." He pointed at the tall skinny one who gave the orders.

As he rushed into battle, Gabbie was soon running along next to him with her khopesh DigiBlade out. "You didn't really think you were gonna have all the fun without me, did you?" she asked him with a smirk.

"No, I suppose not!" Billy grunted as he swung his blade down on top of the enemy.

The digimon quickly blocked his attack with its rapier-like claws. "Oh this will be fun indeed," the digimon goaded. "My name is Matadormon! Do not attempt to humor me with your weak attacks, as I am an ultimate level digimon! Your powers are useless against me!"

"Oh, yeah?" Gabbie asked as she swung her own weapon down low, aiming at the creature's legs. Matadormon agilely pinned her weapon to the ground with its claws sinking into the pavement. It swung a leg up to kick Billy in the head at the same time, which he just barely dodged.

Both Tamers were attacking and blocking, and Matadormon was able to deflect both of their attacks with lightning quick reflexes and then attack them back. It was taking everything that the two humans had to spar with this digimon.

Meanwhile, Dobermon and Devimon had taken the initiative in attacking the Troopmon. "Black Beam!" the dark energy exploded out of Dobermon's mouth and whizzed passed one of the enemy's heads.

Devimon hissed joyfully as he dug his claws deeply into the side of one of the Troopmon. The demon digimon held the fat creature over his head and began to bend him and squeeze him. "Black Beam!" Dobermon shouted. The digimon in Devimon's arms exploded into data.

"One down, one to go," Dobermon said. Devimon nodded as they refocused their attention to the remaining Troopmon.

"Thousand Arrow!" Matadormon yelled. He held up his arm and pointed the long blade-like claws at the two Tamers.

"Gabbie," Billy said. "We have to run. Now!" He grabbed her arm and darted sideways. Matadormon's claws shot out one by one at the Tamers, just barely missing them as they ran. They ducked behind a nearby building. "Are you okay?"

"Huh, what?"

"Are you hurt?" Billy asked impatiently. He looked her over real quick. "I suppose you aren't. Good. That means you can still fight."

"Where are you, children?" Matadormon asked as he walked in their direction. "I will find you, and then I will destroy you! So, how about we don't delay the inevitable, hmm?"

Suddenly, Matadormon's razor sharp claws shot out through the building between Billy and Gabbie's heads. "Run! Go! Attack!" Billy yelled.

The two Tamers stood up and bolted out around the building, brandishing their weapons. Gabbie brought her DigiBlade up over her head and down on top of Matadormon. He shot up a large, clawed arm in response, blocking her attack. Billy took the opportunity to get around the ultimate level digimon and strike at his back.

"Foolish human," Matadormon said as he quickly pivoted and blocked Billy's attack as well. "I am ten times fast than you'll eve hope to be!"

"Faster maybe," Billy grunted as he pushed as hard as he could. "But nowhere near as smart! Gabbie, push as hard as possible!"

"What?" Matadormon asked, shocked and confused. "I- I can't move! Humans aren't this strong!"

"Dobermon!" Gabbie cried. "Get him!"

Having already defeated the other Troopmon, Dobermon positioned himself in front of Matadormon and began charging power. Devimon stood behind the ultimate level digimon and dug his claws deep into its back. Devimon began to viciously tear Matadormon apart when Dobermon yelled, "Black Beam!"

"No! No! No!" Matadormon yelled as the charged beam of darkness tore through him. "You humans are all…" he breathed a final time, "doomed…" and dissolved into data.

Gabbie's DigiBlade dissolved back into data to be stored in her digivice as Billy sheathed his once again. "What do you think he was talking about?" She asked.

"I'm not sure, but something tells me that we'll only find out if we go deeper into this city and its secrets." DemiDevimon landed on Billy's shoulder and he walked down the street once again, this time heading off into the direction of the largest building in the city, so big that it could be seen above all the others. "That's where we'll find our answers," Billy thought silently. Gabbie and Dobermon exchanged curious looks and ran to catch up with the dark boy.


	41. Hunted

"I still feel like I'm being watched," Hope commented with a shiver.

"Don't worry about it!" Agumon said with a grin. "I'm sure that whatever is watching us won't hurt us too bad."

"What Agumon is trying to say is, there's nothing watching us, so there's no need to worry," Brian told her as he climbed over a root that had grown out of the ground.

Gatomon let out a yawn. She had been riding piggyback style on Hope for the past mile and had promptly fallen asleep. "Shut up," she told them, and laid her head back down.

"Oh, Gatomon," Hope scolded. "Be nice."

"Very well," Gatomon said sleepily. They suddenly heard a roar in the distance just as the sun began to descend below the horizon. Everybody stopped and Gatomon's ears pricked up. "What was that?"

"I was going to ask you that, Gatomon," Agumon said, looking up at her. "You tend to be smarter than me after all."

"Got that right," Gatomon sneered.

"It was just a digimon," Brian said firmly. "Let's just try to find a campsite, okay?"

A shiver ran over Hope. "If you say so."

Just as the darkness began to shroud the dense forest, they heard the sound again. It was a loud, thick, pained roar. "Its closer now," Hope said.

"Yeah it is," Brian agreed. "Think we should move camp?"

A branch snapped behind them and they all twirled around. "Something is there, Brian!" Agumon said, jumping into his Tamer's arms.

Brian dropped him and turned the light on his digivice on. He pointed the beam in the trees where he heard the sound. As he squinted, he could just barely make out a pair of yellow eyes.

There was a swirl of motion and Brian was knocked flat onto his back. The huge digimon was on top of him, beating him. "Pepper Breath!" Agumon cried. The fireball dissolved against the creatures fur. The big beast looked angry and he ran off after Agumon.

"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon cried as she punched the digimon in the face, knocking it off balance.

Brian snatched his digivice from his belt. "Agumon!"

"Got it! Agumon, digivolve to—Greymon!" The large dinosaur's tail swung and smashed into a few trees. "Now you have somebody to mess with," Greymon said to the ferocious beast. "Nova Blast!"

The huge fireball flew from Greymon's mouth straight for the creature. The digimon put his hands up defensively and the Nova Blast's power pushed against it, causing his feet to skid across the ground. After the Nova Blast dissipated, the other creature grabbed his head and then pounded a fist against the ground.

"Yeah!" Brian said. "We hurt him, Greymon! Try again!"

"No, you moron!" Hope yelled.

"What? Why?" Greymon asked as he stared down the creature. It was a big furry beast with skin that was so decayed that you could see bones beneath. Its arms were belted and parts of him seemed to be stitched together.

"He was in pain before he attacked," Gatomon said. "This digimon is not natural."

"What are you?" Hope asked.

The beast looked at her and tried to speak. "I am…" he grunted in pain. "Hurt… confused…."

"What is your name?"

"Mad…. Mad… MadLeomon…" He grunted painfully. "MadLeomon!" the creature roared into the sky and ran at Greymon again. "Necrotoxin Claw!" MadLeomon yelled.

Greymon sidestepped the attack and brought down his elbow into MadLeomon's back. MadLeomon fell down to the ground into the dirt but was immediately back up again.

"Gatomon, what do we do?" Hope asked. "He's been driven mad with some sort of pain! He isn't attacking us because he wants to, his judgment is just clouded with agony!"

"Hope, I know you don't want to hurt him," Gatomon replied. "But he has to be stopped. Lightning Paw!" Gatomon leaped back into battle and punched the digimon just as he was rallying to attack Greymon again.

Greymon caught the behemoth and threw him against the ground. "Nova Blast!" The hot flames poured down onto the digimon beneath him. MadLeomon kicked upwards, striking Greymon in the chin and pushing him back.

MadLeomon leaped back up to his feet and yelled, "Fallen Fist of the Beast King!" He punched Greymon and a flaming black lion's head engulfed the dinosaur.

"Greymon!" Brian yelled. Greymon struggled to stand up but fell back down. "Greymon! Get up! You have to fight!"

"I'll hold him off," Gatomon said, using another Lightning Paw attack and knocking MadLeomon aside.

MadLeomon punched Gatomon in the chest and sent her flying. She cried a little as she hit the ground. Brian smirked as an idea ran through his head. He ran out in front of MadLeomon, standing between the beast and his own digimon. "Come on over here, you big brute!" He yelled as he held his arms out to his sides with his fingers spread.

Slightly confused, MadLeomon charged at Brian, who had made no effort to move out of the way. "Brian!" Greymon yelled.

"Get out of the way, you idiot!" Hope called.

Saliva flew from the monster's mouth as he picked up speed. He snarled and brought his arm up to strike the boy. Brian closed his eyes and awaited the coming pain.

"You," Greymon yelled. "Will not," he stood up and caught MadLeomon's hands. "Hurt Brian!" Greymon bowed his head and built up energy in his mouth. Black flames escaped between his teeth as her yelled loudly, "Nova Blast!" the darkness fell out of Greymon's mouth in heavy waves and engulfed MadLeomon entirely.

Brian ran out of the way of the super hot fire as Greymon threw MadLeomon aside. He then dug his claws into the earth and tugged. Cracks ran through the ground in front of him as he pulled up the huge chunk of ground, lifting it and MadLeomon into the air. With all of his remaining strength, he hefted the mound as far as he could into the air. MadLeomon crashed to the ground with it. The other digimon seemed to be bruised and battered and unwilling to continue the fight. MadLeomon stalked off into the dense forest.

Greymon fell over backwards and dedigivolved to Agumon. Brian, Hope and Gatomon ran over to him. "Agumon!" Brian yelled cheerfully. "We won! That was amazing!"

"What happened?" Agumon asked as he held his head.

"You don't remember the fight?" Brian asked. "Oh well, it was cool, that's all you need to know!" he patted his friend cheerfully on the back and smiled.

Hope was furious. "Who do you think you are?" she asked loudly as she smacked him across the face. "That stunt was very stupid! You could've been killed! You're an idiot!"

"Hey! Whatever it takes to win, I'll do it!" Brian defended. "We needed that victory anyway!"

"Why? To boost your already inflated ego?" Gatomon commented.

"Shut up!" Brian yelled back.

"Don't you dare talk to her that way!" Hope yelled. "What you did was stupid and reckless! Gatomon and I could have handled the fight even with your digimon knocked down. You need to learn when to quit! That isn't courage! That's cowardice, forcing your digimon to defend you like that!"

Suddenly, the ground lurched. "Uh-oh…" Brian said quietly. The ground cracked and broke all around them, sinking downward. Then the ground broke and the four of them fell into the darkness below.

XXX

Piedmon chuckled as he watched the fight on the computer screens. "The boy has a powerful darkness in his heart." There was a loud slurping noise as he finished off a fruit smoothie.

XXX

Eduardo was afraid. A digimon had come into his world and began issuing commands to the Tamers in the Underground, were the Digi-Battles were held. Most of the other Tamers seemed to have eaten up what Daemon had said about gaining ultimate power above all other enemies.

"Dinohyumon, I dunno about this," he said to his digimon partner. There were digimon trying to shepherd the Underground Digi-Battlers into the digiport.

Dinohyumon stood taller than Eduardo. He was a champion level lizard-man who came from a primitive tribe in the Digital World. "Big, bad, digimon," Dinohyumon grunted. "Me smell darkness."

"Yeah," Eduardo agreed in a hushed voice. Two Garudamon suddenly grabbed them at the shoulders and they were shoved into the digiport. It felt weird to Eduardo. He had never been digitized before, though Dinohyumon had tried his best to explain the sensation with his limited vocabulary. Eduardo now realized that the most gifted speaker in both worlds might not even be able to describe the feeling. It was good though. Maybe only a Tamer could truly appreciate being digitized, the feeling of being made of the very same material as your partner.

When Eduardo touched down on the other side, he was amazed. This Digital World was nothing like the lush green that Dinohyumon had described to him. It was an empty, barren wasteland.

"Welcome to the Digital Wastes," a large dog like digimon said. "I am Etemon, and I'll be your drill instructor for the next… well forever anyway!" He laughed exaggeratedly at his own joke. A few other kids gave a nervous chuckle throughout the crowd. Eduardo had never really appreciated how many Tamers there really were. The Underground had a lot of kids coming and going through it, but this was a large crow even for that arena.

"There must be a lot more arenas for Digi-Battles all over California," Eduardo commented to his partner.

"Digital World now bad. Many flee," Dinohyumon garbled his response. "Maybe digimon flee to human world. Maybe meet many human. Become partner. Fight for sport better than fight for survival."

"Yeah I can see why." Eduardo suddenly felt ashamed of himself for competing in the Underground arena. Do digimon really have to resort to that sort of thing just to stay alive?

"The bunkers are to the left," Etemon told them. "You and your partner will share a bunk. Three other Tamers and their digimon will join you in your bunker. You will be a squad, a team. You will do as you're told and nothing less. Do you understand me?"

The large crowd echoed loudly as they yelled, "Yes!"

Daemon, Sara, Taylor, Witchmon, and Liamon stood watching them from atop a nearby ridge. "This army is magnificent." Daemon commented to his generals.

XXX

Brian opened his eyes. The room he was in was dark. As his eyes adjusted, he called out, "Hope!" Sore, he struggled to stand up. "Hope!" he tried again. Brian looked around and spotted a girl's hand sticking up out of a pile of rubble. "Hope!"

He ran of to her and started to remove as much of the rubble as he could. He hurriedly threw aside rocks and dirt and pieces of metal until finally he could see the majority of her. He pulled her out of the mess and as he did, she woke up. "Jerk," she said when she saw him.

"Well I can see you're still pleased with me." Brian looked around, searching for Agumon and Gatomon. "Agumon!"

"Gatomon!" Hope yelled.

"Ah-ah-ah-choo!" a belch of flame shot up into the darkness above, illuminating the room for a brief moment. Something the two Tamers noticed was that the room was filled with dark colored gears, most of them broken and dusty and laying in piles around them.

"Agumon!" Brian yelled gleefully. "That's gotta be him!" He jumped up and started to climb over the piles of gears trying to reach his partner.

Hope stayed behind, still too angry with Brian for treating Agumon the way he did. "Stupid, Brian," she mumbled. "Gatomon! Where are you?" She heard movement behind her and metal crashing to the ground. Hope turned to see. "Gatomon? Is that you?" She squinted into the darkness. "Gatomon? Brian? This isn't funny Brian. Brian? Gatomon? Agumon? Who's there?"

Purple tentacles shot out of the darkness and grabbed her.

XXX

Brian slid down the piles of gears and scrap metal as he tried to reach his partner. "Agumon!" he yelled over and over again.

Finally, there was a response. "Brian?"

"Yeah! It's me, Agumon!" He ran over to his friend and hugged him.

"Where are we, Brian?"

"I'm not sure, actually. Away from that digimon, at least. I saw your sneeze!"

Agumon laughed. "Woops."

"Its okay, as long as you didn't catch anything on fire. You didn't, did you?"

"I don't think so…."

"Then it's all good!" Brian pulled out his digivice and turned the light on. He shined it around them and saw the piles of broken gears and scrap metal. Machines and conveyer belts were everywhere; each conveyer belt had a line of the gears on them. "I guess this place manufactured these things," Brian said as he held up one of the broken gears. "I wonder what they're for?"

Agumon picked one up too and dusted it off. His face contorted into anger and he yelled, "Pepper Breath!" The ball of fire struck the gear and destroyed it.

"What'd you do that for?"

"I don't know," Agumon said. "When I touched the gear I felt angry though and I just wanted to destroy something. I'm all better now though."

"Weird. C'mon, let's explore this place."

"What about Hope and Gatomon?"

"Nah they won't mind." Brian turned and started walking. "They're mad at me again anyway."

"Well, okay then." Agumon hurried to catch up.

Looking around the two found several broken tubes lining the walls. Cords and wires were sticking out of them and running into the walls and into nearby computers. Broken glass was scattered all around the ground. "Old looking computers. Think they'll turn on?"

"They might," Agumon said. "Let's try it out."

Brian walked over to the terminal and looked for anything resembling a power button on the dusty machine. He finally found a switch with a power symbol on it and flipped it. The computer roared to life. Lights flashed on all over the computer and the screens lit up under the dust.

"Hah! I did it!" Brian exclaimed victoriously. He wiped the dust off the screens.

"What does it say?" Agumon asked curiously.

"It says, "Files ready to download. Accept?"" Brian read out loud. "Well, what do you think, Agumon? Should we hit accept?"

"Sure, why not? With any luck it'll make me a hot dog!" Agumon drifted off into a daydream, probably one about his favorite food.

"Err, right, Agumon." Brian turned back to the computer and hit the 'y' key. The computer whizzed again as it processed the information. The computer screen then read, "Please insert mass storage device." A USB port opened up next to the screen.

Brian remembered that his digivice had a USB cord that pulls out. He found the cord and pulled it out, sticking it into the computer port. "Download commencing. Please wait," the screen on his digivice read.

Just as the loading bar reached 100%, the computers energy source depleted and it shut down. "Guess it only had enough power to do that." He was about to open the files on his digivice when he heard Hope's scream. Without thinking, Brian and Agumon dashed in her direction.

When they finally reached her, Gatomon stood next to her. "Oh hey guys," Gatomon said.

"Uh, did you just scream, Hope?" Brian asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah, Gatomon startled me," she told him. "Everything is fine."

"Um, okay then. So I see you're still talking to me. Does this mean you aren't mad anymore?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad?" Hope asked. Brian was confused.

"Let's just look for a way out, shall we?" Gatomon said, also confused.

"Yeah, I wanna find some food," Agumon agreed as his stomach growled.

They group started looking for a way out of the factory. They soon found a large door with an exit sign above it. The sign wasn't lit though, as the entire factory had no power left.

After prying the door open, they found themselves in a large cavern. "Wow," Brian appreciated. "Nice place. Add a few scary digimon and some dramatic background music and this place is the perfect evil villain retreat."

Hope was curiously looking at her digivice. "Uh, Hope?" Gatomon tugged at her partner's shirt. "Is everything okay?"

She looked down at Gatomon. "Of course. Everything is just fine." Hope went back to tinkering with her digivice.

"Um, okay then." Gatomon followed Hope cautiously. Brian and Agumon lead the way, using his own digivice for light.

"Hey, I think I see an exit up ahead!" Agumon exclaimed.

"I think you're right!" Brian agreed. The two rushed ahead to the exit and Hope and Gatomon followed. "Ah! Sweet, fresh air! Oh, how I missed you!"

"It is very pleasant, isn't it?" Hope said. "I am very happy to be out of that place. I have been trapped for so long." She trailed off in thought.

"We were only stuck in there for like a half hour," Brian told her. "Maybe forty-five minutes. No more." He looked at his friend curiously. Something seemed very off. "Are you okay? You seem a bit odd, Hope. I would've expected you to still be mad at me for one thing."

"I am happy," she spoke calmly and quietly. She took a step closer to Brian, who backed up a bit awkwardly. She continued to advance until he had backed up against a tree.

"Hope?" Gatomon said, concerned. "What are you doing?"

"This one might make an interesting partner," Hope said with a calm smile on her face. She put a hand on Brian's cheek.

"This is really weird, Hope," Brian told her, wishing he could back away more.

"Gatomon, is Hope okay?" Agumon asked the other digimon.

"I don't think so," Gatomon replied.

Hope moved her face closer to Brian's until they were just centimeters apart. He could feel her breath on his skin. Her smell drifted into his nostrils. "An interesting… partner…" she whispered.

"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon yelled and punched Hope in the side of the head. The girl went flying away at the force of the blow.

While still in the air, eight purple insectoid legs shot out of her back and grabbed hold of a nearby tree. She hung there from the branches, suspended by the legs.

"What the—" Brian was shocked.

Hope – the thing they thought was Hope – laughed a hellish laugh. When she spoke, it was as if two voices were speaking, own her own and the other, something else entirely. "You are a fool, Gatomon. All of you are fools for interfering. I will have this girl and we will rule this island, as it should be!" She then skittered away on the insect legs deeper into the forest.

Brian tried to run after her. "Hope! Hope!" He soon realized that running after her was pointless. She was much faster than he was and had already disappeared in the dense forest. "No," he mumbled.

"What was that thing?" Agumon asked.

"I don't know," Gatomon told him. "But I guarantee you it wasn't Hope"

"Maybe she's still back in the cave?" Agumon suggested.

"No, that was Hope's body," Brian told them. "But it certainly wasn't her."

XXX

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Hey fans! I now have a deviant-art account. My username is Ghoul-Lancer and I am pleased to announce that I have drawn up some character sketches for you guys to look at =D so mosey on over there and tell me what you think about my characters, okay? Thanks! I've got loads of other drawings up too and I'm now posting the story there, as well as on (the early chapters have been edited a bit and are a little easier to read). It isn't quite as caught up yet as the one here on fanfic but I'll try to fix that ASAP.


	42. Demon Tower

"Why don't we jus' ditch da broad, eh, boss?" DemiDevimon whispered into his master's ear. "Besides, that there Dobermon keeps ah starrin' at me all da time, ya know?"

"Shut up, DemiDevimon," Billy spoke sharply back, too quiet for Gabbie to hear. She was trailing a few feet behind Billy, with Dobermon taking up the rear. "As much as I hate to admit it, we might need her. She is one of the Eight after all, and that makes her powerful, especially now that she has a DigiBlade."

"We don't need her!" the little digimon spat back. "You an' I are strong enough to take on anything!"

"You are a weak digimon who can't even digivolve to mega level," Billy retorted. "I can make other digimon digivolve. Why not you? Because you're weak."

"Ouch, Billy," DemiDevimon looked hurt. "That was a bit uncalled for."

"Shut up, I don't need you telling me what to do." Billy kept walking up the street, toward the tallest building in the city. "Digivolve, and then we'll talk."

"Personally I think you want her around for reasons other than extra strength."

"What do you know? Nothing, that's what. Mind your own business."

"You like her dontchoo?" DemiDevimon teased his master.

"I said shut your mouth!" Billy said, a little louder than he'd intended.

"What's going on, Billy?" Gabbie asked, curious as to why Billy raised his voice.

"Nothing is going on. DemiDevimon is just being annoying." He then whispered to his partner, "Say one more word—"

"Billy and Gabbie sittin in a tree!" DemiDevimon sang. Billy moved, causing the digimon to fly up into the air as the human threw a punch. He missed but DemiDevimon didn't fly very close to him anymore.

"Hey!" Gabbie said as she ran up closer to Billy. "Don't treat your friend that way!"

"Please," Billy scoffed at her. "I don't have any friends."

"I could be your friend, you know," Gabbie said to him softly.

"Gabbie!" Dobermon cried. "This is Billy we are talking about! He's destroyed the Digital World! Why would you want to be friends with such a sick maniac?"

"Because I don't think he's really as bad as he want everybody to think." She moved around Billy and got in his face. "You're just a big, mean teddy bear, aren't you?"

"Yeah, sure. Why not," Billy said sarcastically, moving out of her way and walking up the street. "I don't want friends. I don't need them."

"You're impossible," she said as she ran up next to him. The digimon were keeping their distance, but following the two. "I can at least stand next to you, can't I?"

"Fine. Whatever. I don't care."

They walked in silence for a while. "This sure is a big city isn't it?" Gabbie said to him.

"I'm used to it. I grew up in California."

"What made you the way you are, Billy?"

"That is none of your concern," he told her.

She latched onto his arm and smiled as sweetly as she could. "Please tell me?"

"I think I'll pass, thank you. Now please let me go."

"I don't think I will, actually!" Gabbie smirked at him. "I kinda like this." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Whatever," he grunted, annoyed. "Can you go away now?"

"Nope."

XXX

Eduardo found himself assigned to a bunker labeled D36. As he walked in the door, he noticed a few things about the little cabin. The first was that the room was very bland. The bunk beds had plain gray sheets and the walls were completely bare. The other thing he noticed was that he shared his bunker with two girls, a guy, and their digimon.

"Hi," Eduardo said to them.

"Shut up," the boy said as he laid his stuff on a bunk.

Eduardo claimed a bed nearest to the door and laid his own stuff there. The two girls walked over to him and one said, "Hey don't mind Austin. He's been a jerk all day to us. My name is Amber."

"And I am Alyssa," the other girl said. "Over there on that top bunk is my digimon partner, Stingmon."

"My partner is the Gladimon over there," Amber told him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you guys," Eduardo said happily. "My name is Eduardo and this is my digimon partner, Dinohyumon."

"I take top bed," his partner said. "I like high place."

"Alright, you can have the top bunk," Eduardo agreed. He turned back to the girls. "You'll have to excuse the way he talks. He comes from a very primitive village somewhere here in the Digital World. It's really great to see some friendly faces in this camp though! Everywhere here seems so gruff."

"Yeah, we know what you mean," Amber told him.

"Well, we had better get some shuteye," Alyssa said. "I believe we begin our training tomorrow."

Eduardo collapsed on his bunk and closed his eyes.

XXX

"And what if the children don't die at the hands of the vampires?" MetalSeadramon asked.

Piedmon leaned back in his chair as he watched the screens. "Well then I suppose somebody will have to go down there and kill of one or two of those pesky children. You aren't afraid of them beating us again are you?"

"No!" MetalSeadramon roared. "I will destroy them! And I will do it without your silly little games! The boy Tai—"

"He isn't Tai anymore," Piedmon interrupted. "I've been studying this. The DigiBlades weren't around the last time we were here. They also have very similar properties to the crests. I have to wonder if maybe they are the crests themselves! Perhaps the signals we identify as Tai and the others we were really just the signals of the crests."

"What are you talking about?" MetalSeadramon demanded.

"I think that maybe the crests reincarnated into the DigiBlades. They digivolved, if you will, after their data was recycled. In other words, Tai's spirit lives on inside of Brian. Brian has never defeated you. He doesn't know anything about the Dramon Destroyers that his partner gets when he digivolves to mega. He can't digivolve to mega yet anyway!"

"I can easily defeat them. All of them. I will finish the job." MetalSeadramon turned and began to slither away.

"Don't underestimate them, MetalSeadramon," Piedmon said as the other Dark Master left. Piedmon put his hands together and watched the screens more intently. "The fool. The DigiBlades are far more powerful than the crests ever were."

XXX

"Why do you fight?" Gabbie asked Billy as they walked together.

"What are you talking about?"

"I want to know what you're cause is. Why you fight us all the time."

"How about we just keep the chit-chat to a minimum, since we're behind enemy lines after all?" Billy tried once again to wrestle his arm free.

Gabbie held him though. "Meh, so what?" she shrugged. "I thought you could win any fight? You've beaten us a few times anyway."

"I'm still alive because I'm not stupid. We really should be sneaking around instead of blatantly walking up to their fortress."

"This place is a ghost town, Billy," Gabbie reminded him. "And Dobermon doesn't smell any digimon anyway. We're safe."

"Well, forgive me if I don't entirely trust your mutt to not get me killed," Billy grumbled at her. "He does want me dead, you know."

"You saved Gabbie back at Daemon's fortress," Dobermon glared at him. "I don't like it, but she trusts you. Therefore, I will too. Do not disappoint us."

"Whatever. It isn't like I care anyway."

"Yeah!" DemiDevimon agreed. "We don' care whatevehs you gots tuh say about us! You gots no authority over us!"

"Shut up, DemiDevimon," Billy growled at his digimon.

"You still haven't answered my question," Gabbie chided.

"That's because it is none of your business why I do what I do." Billy finally managed to pull away from her. "I fight because I fight. That's all a childish girl like you needs to know, and you'll do well to remember that."

Gabbie took a step away from him, a little hurt. "Alright then."

The four of them kept going through the streets of the city. It was dark and cold and the streets were wet. DemiDevimon eventually landed on his master's shoulder again. "It's time to find a place to sleep," Billy said to everybody. "We can continue our trek tomorrow morning."

They found an entrance to a large building down a shady alleyway. The door was small, and hidden in the shades and behind a dumpster, so it was concealed pretty well. Inside seemed to be a small storage room, large enough for them all to sleep. In the back there was a small cot.

"Billy," Gabbie started as they were rummaging around looking for something to eat.

"What?"

"Where did your heart go?"

Billy was a little taken aback. He thought about it in silence for a moment. "It happened so long ago… I don't remember it well."

"Tell me what you do remember."

"That isn't your business!" he roared at her. Now it was her turn to be taken by surprise. She took a half step backwards, afraid she had overstepped he boundaries. Seeing the look on her face, Billy suddenly felt bad. He looked down at his feet. "Take the bed."

"Wha—huh?" Gabbie stuttered, confused.

"The bed, over there in the back? You sleep in it tonight." He stared at her hard.

Gabbie's expression softened a little bit, and then she smiled. "Dork," she laughed a little.

"Whatever." Billy grabbed a can of beans off of a shelf and went to sit down on the floor with DemiDevimon.

No longer having an appetite, Gabbie went to go sit on the cot. Dobermon walked with her and curled up on the floor nearby. "What was that all about?" the digimon asked.

"It was nothing," she said smiling. "Good night Dobermon." She took one last look at Billy, then laid her head down and fell asleep.

XXX

The Tamers arrived within a stone's throw distance of the giant building at around midday the next morning. The children had been silent most of the morning, making only feeble attempts at communication, mostly from Gabbie. The two digimon fought and bickered nearly the whole time until Billy harshly yelled at them for being too loud.

The building itself was taller than anything either of the Tamers had ever seen. It seemed to stretch off into the clouds, an impossibility in the human world. They could almost see how the large tower swayed back and forth in the wind.

"I really can't believe this exists," Gabbie marveled.

"It's the Digital World. Get used to it," Billy told her. "There aren't any doors or windows. How the hell do the digimon get in?"

As if in answer, a squad of the undead Troopmon walked up to the building. One looked their way and waved even. Gabbie waved back nervously in response but Billy quickly grabbed her hand and pulled it down.

The Troopmon in the front of the squad touched his hand to the wall and a green square lit up beneath its palm. After he stepped back into his ranks, suddenly, the entire building cracked open down the middle and was lifted up slightly. Both sides shifted out away from each other, revealing a much smaller, but still large castle inside. The Troopmon made no effort to move however until the ground beneath them opened up and swallowed them.

"Wait," Gabbie asked incredulously. "What was the point of all of that?"

"Sometimes digimon don't have a reason that we can understand," Billy explained, not realizing he was still holding her hand. "I'm sure that digimon often wonder why we do anything we do."

"Like holding hands?" Gabbie teased.

"What?" Billy suddenly understood and yanked his hand away. "Can we just get inside now before the tower cover drops down again?" He then rushed off down the street with his partner.

"Do digimon wonder why humans do what we do?" Gabbie asked to her partner.

"I occasionally find myself wondering why humans ask so many questions." Dobermon replied. "The world is the world. Why question it?" Gabbie smiled and then ran off after Billy, Dobermon trailing behind her.

As the tower cover descended down to the ground, they were doused in darkness. Dim light from the castle shrouded the entire area. The ground around the castle was barren and void of plant life.

"Seems friendly enough," Billy said. They stood crouched in the shadows. "DemiDevimon, look for a way in that they wont see us using."

"Aye, aye," the little digimon said as he flew away.

The Tamers and Dobermon waiting patiently in the darkness for the scout to return. When DemiDevimon finally found them again, he told them about what he had discovered.

"I think we can gets in pretty undetected if we gets in through da sewers. Other than that it's locked down pretty tight-like and even da sewer entrance is watched. If we's can figure out how to gets through da watch, then they won't know we're in there."

"Wow, I'm surprised, DemiDevimon," Billy said to his partner.

"Boss?"

"You actually did a good job for once. C'mon, lets get moving." Billy led the group silently through the grounds to the sewer entrance that DemiDevimon talked about. They hid behind a wall of the castle and looked around the corner. They could see the figures of two Troopmon watching a group of Bakemon move piles of sewage into a truck.

"What are they doing?" Gabbie asked.

"Takin' out da trash. Wha' else, sweetheart?" DemiDevimon sneered at her.

"Shut up, both of you!" Billy hissed under his breath. "Do you want them to see us? DemiDevimon, lets see if you can do a job for me again without messing up."

"I read ya, boss! Loud an' clear!" DemiDevimon flew up high and slowly flew down to just above the Bakemon and Troopmon's heads. "Demi Dart! Within each of his claws formed syringes filled with some sort of clear liquid. He threw them at the Troopmon and then produced more for the Bakemon. The syringes each stuck inside the digimon, who fell over onto the ground, asleep.

"Evil whisper!" the small digimon called out. He then filled their heads with lies about how their masters told them they could take a nap.

"Not bad, DemiDevimon," Billy congratulated.

"Won't those digimon get destroyed if their masters find out about this?" Gabbie asked concerned.

"Probably, but they're the enemy anyway. You've destroyed some digimon in your own time."

"When they threatened my friends and I," Gabbie retorted. "That was self defense!"

"These digimon threatened us with their existence. Now lets go before we are caught." Billy looked at her sternly and then entered the sewage drain with DemiDevimon on his shoulder.

"Why do you try to be his friend, Gabbie?" Dobermon asked her. "He is cold and ruthless. What do you see in him?"

"There's good in him somewhere. You just can't see it really well through all that black."

The two friends crawled in after Billy. They eventually caught up with him, who had a finger to his lips. "I hear voices up ahead," he whispered. Gabbie nodded and they all slowly crept forward until they reached a small vent beneath them. Through the vent, they could see several digimon talking to each other.

"How is the beacon coming along?" A tall blonde haired digimon asked to his subordinates. The Tamers couldn't see anything very well through the grate so they settled for just listening.

"Yes sir!" said something that looked like it might be a SkullSatamon. "The construction is almost complete now and will soon be ready to be placed at the top of the mountain!"

"Hurry it up!" the blonde digimon yelled. "I want those children destroyed! We were paid well to eliminate them, so lets not dawdle!"

The other digimon dropped to his knees in fear. "Yes my lord! Please forgive me! The angel's technology is very hard to understand though, sir! We are trying our best, but—"

"I'm tired of your excuses, SkullSatamon. Just get it done."

"Yes, my lord, Lucemon," SkullSatamon said and walked away.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Gabbie whispered.

"I'm not sure," Billy said. "But whatever is going on, I don't think it sounds good for your friends."

Lucemon started talking again. "You two children know that you were invited, don't you?" He was looking directly at the grate above him where they hid. "All of this sneaking around was largely unnecessary and a waste of time. And now you're all covered in sewage too! How dreadful!"

Billy kicked the grate open and jumped down into the room below, crouching when he landed and then standing up. Gabbie and Dobermon followed along with DemiDevimon flying with them.

"I even left the front door unlocked for you," Lucemon said. They could now get a good look at the digimon. He appeared to be half an angel and half a demon, cut straight down the middle. He had six angelic wings on one side of his body, and six demonic wings on the other.

"What is it that you want with my friends?" Gabbie asked.

"I want to destroy them, of course."

"Why?"

"Dear, I know you have ears. We were paid to." Lucemon said from his throne. "However, Billy, I want to save you for last. You stole our castle and gave it to that witch of a digimon, LadyDevimon. We were forced to come here and take this one. I want my revenge and I want it slow and painful. Raremon! Attack!"

Before either Tamer or digimon could react, thousands of gallons of purple ooze fell out of grates like the one the Tamers came through. The foul smelling ooze fell into the room and swirled around them, enclosing them in its stench. The giant blob seemed to be fused with decayed flesh, bone, and chunks of metal.

A face appeared in the ooze in front of them and yelled, "Stinking Gas!" The smell that emanated from this creature before was nothing compared to what came from its attack. The humans and their digimon nearly puked from the overwhelming stench that put strains on their consciousness.

"You will be destroyed soon enough, my friends," Lucemon said.

Billy fell to the floor. "Gabbie," he coughed, but soon fell into unconsciousness along with the others.

XXX


	43. Welcome to my Nightmare

Loud bells were going off in Eduardo's ears as he woke up, shocked and confused. "What's going on?" he asked in a sleepy and dazed voice.

His bunkmates were standing straight up next to their bunks as an Andromon opened the door and walked in. Eduardo sat up and rubbed his eyes. Gladimon and Stingmon stood next to their Tamers. Dinohyumon slept like a rock.

Andromon's large metal feet clomped on the ground as he stepped in front of Eduardo. "Why aren't you out of bed yet?" the digimon asked quietly as his glossy eyes stared downward, unblinking.

"Huh?" Eduardo asked, still rather confused. His partner let out a loud snore from the top bunk.

"It is training time," the android digimon stated with authority as he smacked Dinohyumon awake with his metal hand. "Wake up! Get out of bed! Stand at attention!"

The human Tamer and his partner quickly jumped out of bed and stood straight up in front of Andromon. "That's more like it!" Andromon said, pleased. "You four will be a team who will work together, got it? You will head to the training grounds and attempt to defeat your opponents. Only the strong survive in this war. This is our way or weeding out the wimps."

"But that's cruel!" Eduardo protested. "You can't just pit digimon against each other purely to see who is stronger!"

Andromon slapped him. "Lord Daemon will do whatever he pleases, understand?"

Eduardo looked like he might protest more, but the looks in the eyes of Alyssa and Amber told him to do otherwise. He simply replied, "Yes sir, I understand, sir."

"Good!" Andromon stated happily. "Now you three and your digimon will march to the training grounds and await orders." He then turned to Austin who had been alone and largely forgotten in the back. "You will go to the bestiary and obtain your digimon partner. All four of you are on your orders now, so march!"

The four children exited the bunker. Austin silently left them in the direction of a large square building away from camp. Eduardo turned to the girls and questioned, "His digimon is kept in the bestiary? Why?"

"We've never seen his digimon before," Amber told him. "But they say it's a wild beast that can't be controlled easily."

"What is it called?" he asked her as they kept walking. The sun was beating down on them and the dust started to pick up a little.

"We don't know what it's called," Alyssa told him. "All we know is that Tamers with powerful digimon like him are supposed to be the best of the best. If we are going to make it far in this army, we should count ourselves lucky to have him on our side! Wild digimon Tamers are likely to be the last to be weeded out."

"This army sounds terrible!" Eduardo said quietly as large digimon watched them walk. "I don't think I want to be a part of it anymore."

"We don't have a choice though!" Amber said. "Those guards are always watching us and I'm afraid of what they'd do to us if we tried to go home!"

"'Lord' Daemon sounds like a vile and vicious digimon," Eduardo said. The three of them reached the large arena with a sign above the entryway labeled 'training grounds'. "Looks like we made it."

XXX

"This graveyard creeps me out!" Christina said with a shiver. Lunamon rode on her piggyback style. It had started to get dark and more mist continued to roll in. "How much longer until we are out of this graveyard?"

"It shouldn't be too much longer," Leomon told her confidently. "We've been walking for hours! I'll bet you that the exit is right around the corner."

Duane's eyes began to droop slightly as he started growing more and more fatigued. The sky was growing darker every second but he didn't want to stop just yet. He didn't really understand why, it just didn't seem like the right thing to do. "Maybe I'm just creeped out too," he decided silently to himself. He couldn't shake the feeling of fear though.

"Duane," Leomon walked up next to him some time later. "We've been walking well into the night. Your comrades are tired and we all want a rest."

Droopy eyed, Duane looked around at his friends. They were cold, hungry, and tired. Despite his better judgment, he reluctantly agreed to take a break.

"Oh thank goodness!" Christina sighed as she and Lunamon slumped against each other. As the other two set up camp, the mist grew thicker.

"Wow," Leomon commented. "This mist seems to be thick enough to cut with a sword."

"It makes me feel a little uneasy, honestly," Duane told him. He pulled some pine needles together to make a bed and laid down on it. He was still looking around with the feeling that something bad was going to happen. The entire effect of the tall, skinny trees and the mist floating around them was extremely eerie to him. His friends seemed to be okay with everything that was going on though, and by this time they were all asleep. Duane closed his eyes and soon drifted off along with them.

XXX

Eduardo, Alyssa, and Amber walked through the great gates to the arena and were escorted by two large Boltmon to a locker room. The locker room was huge and it took some time for the three of them to find the lockers labeled with their names. Inside each of the lockers were two sinister looking, armored, black jumpsuits, one a size that fit the Tamer perfectly, and the other for the partnered digimon.

"Whoa," Alyssa said holding her up. "These don't go with my eye color at all!"

"I think we'll have more to worry about than your appearance when we get into the arena," her partner digimon, Stingmon said as she pulled on her own jumpsuit.

Gladimon and Amber already had their jumpsuits on and Eduardo was trying to help Dinohyumon figure out the zipper. After they had all been suited up, Austin walked in.

"Where's your super dangerous partner digimon?" Eduardo teased.

"None of your business, that's for certain." Austin retorted with a grunt. He opened up a locker with his name on it and pulled his own jumpsuit on. He then walked towards a door with the word "arena" hanging over it. "Are you three losers coming or am I going to have to do this by myself? Actually, it might be easier that way if you just stay out of my way."

"We're coming!" Amber said. "Don't you worry about that!" Austin smirked and walked away.

Amber was fuming as she and Gladimon stalked away after him. "What's up with her?" Eduardo asked Alyssa.

"I'm not exactly sure, honestly," she replied.

"Well, I guess we'd better follow them."

XXX

Suddenly, a light turned on like a spotlight on Duane. He was standing a dark room with a hard floor. He shielded his eyes from the light when it hit him. "Leomon?" he called out into the darkness as his eyes adjusted. "Christina? Lunamon? Hello? Is anybody out there?"

Only silence returned his desperate pleas. "Guys?" He was cold and all alone now. He knew this, but some faint glimmer of hope held its ground in his mind.

XXX

"This isn't funny, guys!" Christina yelled into the air around her. The breeze was warm and the dirt at her feet was burnt. The smell of sulfur filled her nose. As she looked around she could see that there were geysers all around her, most spitting up dust and smoke. The sky was completely black and it appeared as though she was alone.

"Where is everybody?" she asked once again with futility. "Lunamon!" she cupped her mouth and yelled into the craggy wasteland. She was alone and frightened. 

XXX

Phantomon floated over his newly capture prey. The two digimon should fetch a pretty decent price back in the city seeing as how they were both rare nowadays and not even native to this island. The two humans however…. Well, humans have proved to be more trouble than they're worth in the past. Nobody would buy a human, especially in these times of war.

However, their subconscious minds may still be useful to him. After they had unwittingly wandered into his lair, the Never-Ending Graveyard, he had placed them into a deep sleep. Human minds were very strange. Unlike digimon, the human mind remains active after sleep. They continue to think and wonder and dream.

It puzzled Phantomon as to why it might do that, but nevertheless, what truly interested in him was the power source buried deep in their subconscious. He could sense it, feel it, taste how the power coursed through their frail bodies. He floated close to the sleeping male, a chubby red head in a green and black shirt. "What makes you so special?" He then glanced over to the blonde in turquoise. "Pathetic. Such power wasted on such pathetic beings."

After all, shouldn't it be digimon who have the power to control the flow of data? Why should humans be able to have this power, however benign their control over it may be, they don't even live in data. They aren't data themselves. Why can they control it on the small subconscious level that they can?

He held up his scythe and touched it to the boy's face. The energy from the boy began to flow into Phantomon and he chuckled.

XXX

Duane picked a direction and began walking. The black room he was in seemed to be endless, like he was trapped in some sort of void. He really hated being alone. It's a terrible feeling. He was suddenly reminded of his time as a prisoner of Datamon. At least he wasn't alone then most of the time; despite the fact that Datamon wasn't the best company he was still company nonetheless.

Here, in this void, he was completely alone and he knew it. His desperation growing, he started running as fast as he can, trying to find anything in this emptiness. Then he heard a click and a whoosh and was suddenly knocked off of his feet. The icy chill engulfed his body and sent freezing spikes into his lungs as he breathed in by surprise.

The water kept pulling him down no matter how hard he tried to swim back up. Despite how he tried to hold it in, his diaphragm twitched, urging him to cough up the water in his lungs. Against his will, the bubbles gurgle forth from his mouth and freezing water filled his lungs again. Without the air in his lungs to keep him buoyant, it only became easier for the water to pull him under into the black abyss below.

XXX

Christina decided that it might be better to wander around. Maybe she could find somebody, a digimon or a person, who might be able to tell her where she is. She didn't mind being alone, but this dark and depressing wasteland creeped her out. She couldn't stand the smell of sulfur and the ground seemed dead under her foot.

All the while, she continued to call out the names of her friends, hoping beyond hope that they might be out there somewhere, transported in the same way that she was. At least it was warm here. The red sky was completely cloudless except for the mist and smoke from the geysers nearby.

As she walked, the ground suddenly began to rumble. Large hills sprung up around her and bubbled with activity. Then, something burst from the mounds. It was a large black head with twitching antennae and terrifyingly large black pincers. The enormous compound eyes could've been looking anywhere, but Christina was certain that they were looking directly at her. The mighty beast let out a screeching cry and burrowed the rest of the way out.

Frightened, she ran towards a nearby cliff and started climbing as high as she could. Glancing back down, she saw a swarm of the giant ants below, climbing over each other in a frantic scramble to chase after her. Her muscles ached and her breathing was heavy but fear compelled her to continue her climb. It wasn't too long before the steep cliff to turn into a rocky incline and she was able to half run, half stumble up the side of the mountain.

As she continued to near the peak, there was a sudden explosion has the top of the mountain burst open. The air suddenly climbed in degrees and her skin felt very hot and dry. Frightened, she yelled, "Lunamon!" as fiery rocks were shot up into the sky and the molten lava fell from the top of the mountain.

XXX

The sun blinded Eduardo as he followed Austin and the two girls out into the arena area. To his surprise, the black jumpsuit that he wore was comfortable and seemed to flow with his body in a way that clothes never had before. It was almost like wearing another layer of skin, albeit rather armored skin. He knew that this would protect him from pretty much anything.

As his eyes began adjusting to the light, he could hear Lord Daemon addressing the crowd. Eduardo looked up at him. Flanking him on either side were Sara and Taylor, each accompanied by their digimon partners, Witchmon and Liamon. "Forty-seven teams have already been eliminated," he began. "Forty-seven teams proved to be unfit for survival in this army. It displeases me to say that out of my chosen champions, we have already found forty-seven failures." His voice was slow and melancholy, as if he truly did regret the loss of the Tamers and digimon that he had recruited. "But, this is way the way of the world is it not? The strongest survive and the rest are deleted? Is that not how we create a perfect civilization? How can the strong hope to survive in a community that is bogged down by the pathetic and useless and weak that hold them back?

Today, I show you how to deal with those unfit for my army, those who are unfit for my new world! A world that we will create together! A world where those with talent may rise and be something truly magnificent! And this, my friends, is why I am holding these contests. To weed out those who cannot survive in my new world. These next two teams will show us once again what it is we value in our new world."

Eduardo looked around in the arena. It was at least as long as three football fields and as wide as two. The ground was made of the dusty dirt common throughout the Digital Wastes. The enormous stands were filled with both humans and digimon. He looked at their faces. Many of the children seem excited about what was about to happen. A few however, seemed to feel the same way he did. That digimon weren't meant to fight this way. Not that he could change anything though. The entire arena was filled with Daemon's ultimate and mega level guards. They could never hope to overpower them in combat.

He looked down the arena and saw the other team. They looked brutish for the most part. Nothing like their own team, all of them being scrawny except for the foul tempered and muscular Austin. The kids on the opposing team were all bigger than even Austin. They must've been older too, based on their height. At this distance, he couldn't tell how tall they were for sure, but they could've easily been at least a foot taller than Eduardo.

With them stood three digimon, a Unimon, a Birdramon, and a Rockmon. Their team must have been build like their own was, three Tamers with normal power digimon, and one Tamer with a superpower digimon.

"Bring in the Class-3 digimon!" Daemon yelled. Four or five zeppelins soon became visible over the walls behind the other team. As they rose higher and higher into the air, parts of a fearsome digimon became visible. Its arms, legs, tail, and maw were all chained and carried by the zeppelins. The creature had black scales and a threatening demeanor. It seemed to be the very definition of terrifying.

Eduardo glanced behind him and saw a similar sight. Only instead of a black dinosaur chained up and carried by zeppelins, it was a large green bug digimon. It had huge, white wings, four legs, and two giant scythe-like claws attached to its arms. Its mouth was filled with a terrible array of razor sharp teeth. Its hunger for battle and blood were clearly evident.

Daemon sat down in a large stone throne and said, "Begin."

XXX

Leomon sleepily began to open his eyes. Glancing around, he realized that he was still in the graveyard, but something seemed wrong. The first thing that he noticed was that his arms were bound to his side. He struggled to break free from the chains that bound him but to no avail. His shifting and struggling had woken up Lunamon, who was chained to his back.

She immediately started to cry. "Leomon! What's going on?" she managed to wail through her sobs.

"Lunamon, calm down," Leomon told her, despite his own growing concerns. Their Tamers were nearby sleeping, but they weren't bound like the digimon. Leomon noticed a dark cloud hanging over both of their heads.

'What is going on?' Leomon thought to himself.

"Would you shut that insufferable creature up?" an angry voice wailed over Lunamon's cries. Hurt, Lunamon sniffled and stopped her screaming, tears still streaming down her face. "How will I ever find a buyer for a crybaby like you?"

Leomon turned his face so he could see the newcomer. The digimon that he saw was floating in midair and wearing gray robes with a red hooded cloak. Its face was completely shrouded in darkness and it wielded a large scythe-like sickle attached to a weight and chain. "Would I be correct in assuming that you bound us here?" Leomon asked.

"Yes it would seem so, wouldn't it?" Phantomon chided.

"So, then I may also correctly assume that you are responsible for the condition of the children?"

"I can see how you might assume such a thing, yes." Phantomon continued to tease. "Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it magnificent? A true scientific experiment in magic! You see, humans have a vast store of untapped energy and its up to us—"

"I don't particularly care about your experiments," Leomon threatened him in a completely flat tone of voice, glaring at the ghostly digimon. "What I care about is the safety and well-being of those two humans and when I get free of these chains, I will tear out both of your eyes with my bare paws so that you may watch yourself scream in terror as I pummel you flat."

Phantomon made a fast clicking noise with his tongue and said, "You poor thing Leomon. All bound up and afraid. You make empty threats when it is I who is in fact in control here. You can't do anything to me."

Leomon snarled and struggled more. Phantomon ignored him and touched his sickle to Duane's face. A purple aura surrounded both of them and the boy grimaced and screamed in pain. "Duane! Duane!" Leomon called, but neither he nor Phantomon could hear him.

XXX

Duane continued to struggle against the currents that were pulling him down when a chain suddenly came out of the black abyss below and wrapped around his legs, pulling him down faster and faster than before.

He could feel his consciousness slipping as a whisper sounded in his head, "Duane… I can free you… I can release you… just give all of your power to me… and you'll be saved…"

His body tried to expel the water in his lungs and he coughed again, letting more and more water in as he choked. "Just say the words…" the whisper spoke again. "Just transfer your powers to me… and you will live…"

Duane shook his head as he pulled at the chains. "Do it!" the whisper urged him. "Give it to me!"

He shook his again and again. Then he heard something, a voice even fainter than the whisper's voice screaming Duane's name. "Leomon!" Duane yelled back.

XXX

Christina stumbled backwards as the volcano erupted. As she hit the ground, metal claws grabbed her arms and held her down. She struggled to be let go but the metal was strong and wouldn't give. Then she heard a voice, "Christina, Christina… let me help you… I can take you from here…"

Christina wanted that so badly as she looked back and forth between the lava slowly creeping towards her and the horde of giant ants ambling her way.

"All that I ask in return… is for you to give me your power… the energy that feeds your amazing powers… do my bidding and you can live…"

XXX

Duane was surprised that he could speak at all. After all, he really shouldn't be able to, and yet there he was, yelling for his partner digimon whom he had heard call his name. Leomon's voice was the only voice in his head that he could trust anymore it seemed.

"Leomon! I'm drowning!" He yelled into the abyss as more water filled his lungs. However, the more he yelled, the more that the water didn't seem to bother him, almost as if it wasn't water at all. He closed his eyes, sucked in air, and yelled his partner's name one last time.

When he opened his eyes again, the water was completely gone and he was standing on the ground. "Sure would be nice to have a way to go," Duane silently muttered. He turned around and before him stood a doorway.

Curious, he walked over to it. He glanced around behind the door and saw only the abyss behind it. It seemed to be nothing more than a free floating door in its frame. Duane reached down to the handle and hesitantly opened the door. As soon as he did, the door burst open and quickly moved towards him until he was completely inside. Behind him, he heard the door shut but he didn't look back.

Duane now found himself in a white hallway, which didn't seem to have any kind of ending. An endless amount of doors lined the walls on both sides. 'One of these doors has to lead to Christina,' he thought. As soon as the thought was finished a door several yards down the hallway creaked open.

"That was weird," he mumbled. He walked over to the door and peered inside. The landscape beyond was craggy and hellish. The sky was red and as he looked out, there was a row of large ants marching to a volcano, which was erupting with molten rock flowing from its spout.

And lying on the rocks between the flowing lava and the marching ants was a girl whom he recognized. "Stina!" Duane yelled. He ran out of the door, avoiding the ants, and rush towards her.

"Duane? Is that you?" she called with fear thick in her voice.

"Yeah! It's me!" he yelled back. He talked as he ran to her. "It's like we're in some kind of dream world, Christina! It's like I can control what's happening sometimes!" He reached her and tried to pull open the metal claws.

Christina struggled more and more as the fear built inside of her. The ants and the lava were approaching faster and she was getting more and more worried as Duane continuously failed at prying her hands free.

"Hurry!" she screamed at him.

"I'm doing my best!" he told her. "The lava and the ants are a bit of a distraction!"

There was a sudden lurching of the ground that made Duane lose his balance. The rocks around them split and came apart as the earth seemed to be torn apart. After the quakes had subsided, there was a huge trench around them, too wide for the ants to cross and too deep for the lava to fill.

"That was convenient," Christina noted.

"That's what I was saying!" He told her. "Whenever I need something, its like it just happens!"

"Well then why can't I get out of these stupid shackles?" She yelled and then the claws released her. She sat up and scrambled away from them. "Just like that?" she asked in disbelief.

Duane nodded. "Guess so."

"Why?"

"I think we're dreaming actually," he responded. "I don't think any of this is real."

"Well then how do I know you're real?"

"Well I'm not entirely sure." Duane was stumped for a moment. "Um, well I know I'm real so I guess I gotta trust that you're real too. Can you trust that I'm real?"

"I suppose so…"

"Good!"

"Yeah," Christina said as she looked around. On one side, the lava was pouring into the trench and on the other the ants had gathered staring at their dinner, trying to figure out a way over. "I'd really like to find a way out of here. Duane, I want to go to a different dream and find a way home!"

Another door appeared.

"I came here through a door like that!" Duane told her. "Come on!"

Together the two of them went through the door and found themselves in the hallway again. "Where do we go now?" Christina asked.

"I'm not sure," he told her. "Let's just try walking for a while maybe?"

It wasn't long before a mysterious cloaked figure appeared. "Oh children!" he said. "You're okay! I was so worried about you, you know. Come now children, we must hurry along!"

"Who are you?" Christina asked.

"I am a friend! But you may call me Phantomon if you wish. Now hurry along children! We have so much to do!"

"Like what?" Duane skeptically asked. "What do you want?"

"All I want is to get you two to safety! Come with me and I can save you. All I ask in return is for you to teach me your power."

"You! You're the voice in my head!" Duane yelled.

"I heard you too! Who are you?"

"I told you already! I am a friend!" Phantomon told them.

"I don't believe you," Duane told him flatly. "What are you going on about with this power we have anyway?"

Phantomon suddenly seemed darker. "Very well then," his voice was deeper and seemed more serious, even angry. "Your power over the flow of data of course!"

"You mean our control over dreams?" Christina asked puzzled.

"If you will not give me your power," a scythe-like weapon appeared in his hand, "then I will simply have to take it from you!"

Duane and Christina held out their hands and their DigiBlades appeared. "Good luck with that!" Duane told him.

"We can beat you!" Christina said.

"Please," Phantomon chided. "I know your very worst fears and I can use them against you." With a swing of his scythe, a door opened and giant ants started to pour out.

"We now know that this is a dream, Phantomon," Christina told him. "And we've conquered our fears already!"

Duane ran the digimon. "Let us go!"

Phantomon raised his scythe and a door right next to Duane opened up and showered him in water. He braced himself for the drowning sensation, but the water passed right through him. He confidently walked out of the water and said, "Your tricks don't work on us anymore Phantomon!"

"Maybe not, but my weapons still do," the digimon swung his scythe at Duane, who blocked it with his halberd. Meanwhile, Christina threw her chakram at the digimon, who skillfully dodged it.

The chakram flew back to Christina and the three of them began exchanging a flurry of blows, blocks, parries, and counterattacks. The sight was quite dazzling as the sparks from the Chrome-Digizoid metals colliding.

With a heavy kick from Christina to Phantomon's back, he flew across the hallway and slammed into a wall. "Foolish children," he insulted them. "Fine, if you want to leave this place then your wish is granted," and then he faded away. After he had gone, a door down the hallway opened up.

"Well what should we do?" Duane asked.

"I guess we just got through the door," Christina replied. So that's exactly what they did.

XXX

Phantomon opened his eyes and quickly backed away from the children. They would wake up soon now that his hold over them had broken. How could this have happened so soon? he wondered. It didn't matter. He must subdue them again and take more precautions.

"What's going on?" Leomon asked.

"Nothing. Shut your mouth," Phantomon snapped, worry in his voice.

Without his access to the power of the children, his own power was weakening quickly. The chains binding Leomon and Lunamon would not hold much longer. The human's eyes snapped open and the two of them quickly stood up and saw their partners bound by chains.

"Lunamon!"

"Christina!" the digimon cried with happiness. Christina rushed towards her digimon but was stopped when Phantomon's scythe flew through the air and stuck in the ground right in front of her.

Lunamon cried again, fearing that Christina may have been hurt. Phantomon pulled on the chain connected to his scythe and it flew back to him as he floated in between the humans and their digimon partners.

The DigiBlades appeared in the Tamer's hands. "Hold on a sec Leomon, we'll have you free soon enough," Duane told his partner. Leomon nodded and continued to struggle against the chains.

"How foolish of you humans," Phantomon said. "This is reality now. No longer can you consciously change the flow of data." The digimon chuckled and threw his scythe at them.

Both humans dodged it and they tried to flank him, but Phantomon was too fast, being able to block both of their attacks and counterattacked, sending them both flying in opposite directions. Duane stood back up and rushed Phantomon as Christina threw her chakram at the digimon.

"Ah, ah, ah," Phantomon teased. He threw the weight at the end of his scythe's chain at Duane and it wrapped around him. He was then able to throw the boy over his head and Christina's DigiBlade struck him.

"Oh no!" she cried. "I'm so sorry Duane!"

Phantomon threw Duane against the ground before releasing him, flying through the air and colliding with Christina. "Don't worry about it," Duane told her. "I'll be fine," he grunted in pain.

"It believe its time to finish this," Phantomon said. "I hate to lose such valuable humans but you have outlived your usefulness. Besides, I have been in your heads. I know that there are more humans here on this island. I can find and use them! Shadow Scythe!" The giant sickle glowed a sinister dark color as the digimon threw it at the Tamers.

"Duane!" Leomon yelled. "Get out of the way!"

Lunamon started crying again. "Christina!"

There was a bright flash of purple and green light that engulfed the two digimon. "Leomon, digivolve to—GrapLeomon!"

"Lunamon, digivolve to—Lekismon! Digivolve to—Crescemon!"

After managing to break the chains, GrapLeomon, the faster of the two, blocked Phantomon's attack with his fist as Crescemon slashed at Phantomon with her Nuova Luna weapon.

Phantomon hit a tree and cried, "No! No! That isn't possible! I still had plenty of power left for those chains to hold!" He rolled over and tried to scramble away. GrapLeomon threw the scythe into the ground in front of him, baring his passage.

"Not so fast," GrapLeomon said as he rushed over and picked Phantomon up. "Batter up!" he yelled and threw the ghost digimon towards Crescemon.

She swung with her Nuova Luna and sent Phantomon flying over their heads. "That's a foul ball if I ever saw one," she remarked, watching the enemy dissolve into data as he flew.

XXX

After the battle, the graveyard had disappeared and the foggy mist had subsided. After the digimon reverted back to their previous forms, they set off walking further down the mountain.

"I told you that graveyard was bad news!" Christina reminded them all. Lunamon was once again riding on top of her head.

"Yeah we know," Duane told her. "You were right and I was wrong. Can we move on now?"

"Oh I suppose so," she smirked.

"We still need to figure out where we're gonna go once we get off of this mountain," Leomon reminded them.

Suddenly, the two digivices began to beep and flash rapidly. The Tamers pulled them out and looked at it. "We're getting some kind of signal," Duane said. "It's coming from behind us."

"But behind us is back up the mountain!" Lunamon cried.

"Well, finding this beacon is better than wandering around doing nothing," Dunae suggested.

"And it might even be one of our friends who have set off some kind of signal," Leomon agreed.

"But, but, but," Christina stammered. She fell to her knees. "Alright," she frowned. "Let's go back up the mountain again."

XXX


	44. Of Defiance and Sludge

Author's Note*: Hey guys I'd really appreciate you going to my profile page and voting in the poll at the top of the page =D I really want to know which Tamer/partner combination you like best! Hurry up and vote! Also, don't forget to check out my page where you can see all of the art I do for Digimon: Light! There I have character drawings and some title art too ^^ check it out! My user name is Ghoul-Lancer! And don't forget to check out Digimon: Light on Facebook!

XXX

The four Tamers of cabin D36 stood and watched as Austin's digimon was lowered and unchained. "Snimon!" Austin bellowed. The large bug digimon roared in response and smashed his sickle-like claw against the arena wall, which cracked as small chunks fell down. "Snimon!" Austin yelled again. "I command you to obey me!"

He held out his digivice and a beam of light wrapped around the digimon's neck. Austin pulled hard and forced the monster's face to collide with the dirt. "Submit to me! Do as I command!" the brutish digimon clicked his pincers in defeat. Eduardo grimaced at how Austin treated his partner. "Kill," Austin commanded as he pointed to the other digimon across the arena.

The big bug digimon looked up at the opponents that Daemon had pitted against them. Snimon roared with delight and flew up in the air when Austin released him.

The other three digimon from the opposing team stood in front of the chained reptilian digimon, whom Eduardo now recognized as a DarkTyrannomon. The great digimon roared and loosed fire into the sky before he snapped that chains with his powerful arms. "Fire Blast!" he yelled, spewing fire at Snimon.

Snimon cried "Twin Sickles!" he slashed the air in front of him with his scythe-like claws. Purple beams of energy shot out of them and sliced through the fire, dissipating it around Snimon. The Twin Sickle attack hit the ground where the other three digimon had once stood, but had long since bolted into the fray to engage Dinohyumon, Stingmon, and Gladimon.

Eduardo and his partner didn't even realize the approaching enemies until Birdramon grabbed Dinohyumon by the shoulders and carried him into the air. "Dinohyumon!" Eduardo yelled as Amber's partner, Stingmon fought with Unimon and Alyssa's partner, Gladimon fought Rockmon.

"Akinakes!" Dinohyumon said as he pulled the sword for which the attack is named off of his back and attempted to strike Birdramon.

The battles raged on, the most destructive of which were from Snimon and DarkTyrannomon. The ground was torn asunder and huge chunks of the walls were missing.

The entire arena was in complete chaos. The humans had to stay very far out of the way, except for Austin, who reveled in being right in the middle of the action with his beast, Snimon.

Unimon charged at Stingmon, who dodged the attack easily and struck the Pegasus digimon in the side, sending him awkwardly flying away. Stingmon rose a couple feet into the air on his wings and rushed Unimon. As he flew, the large rock fist of Rockmon suddenly hit him.

Gladimon swung his swords at Rockmon but was hurled into a wall after a massive blow from the golems fist. Unimon had gotten up now and was already on top of Gladimon, pummeling him with his hooves.

Eduardo was chasing after Birdramon, who was still carrying the struggling Dinohyumon in its talons. Rockmon started throwing chunks of stone at his opponents. A couple hit Stingmon and knocked him over. Another, larger rock, hit Snimon, who didn't seem to mind at all. Some rocks came whizzing by Eduardo's head and a few more struck Birdramon. Dazed, the flaming bird digimon flew low enough to the ground for Eduardo to grab onto Dinohyumon's leg and start climbing up.

Snimon and DarkTyrannomon were still fighting uncontrollably. Snimon charged at the large dinosaur, who smacked him with a devastating Iron Tail attack. The bug digimon was flung up into the air and over the arena wall. DarkTyrannomon, determined to kill his opponent, crawled up into the stands and over the wall after Snimon. Austin latched onto the digimon's tail in an attempt to stay with the battle.

Stingmon needed to help Gladimon, but there was no way to get over there with the massive Rockmon standing between them. He could just fly over, but then Rockmon would just throw stones instead. The only option left to Stingmon would be to defeat the rock digimon.

Eduardo slowly climbed up Dinohyumon's body until he could grab hold of Birdramon's leg. "Eduardo help Dinohyumon!" the digimon said.

"Yes, yes, Eduardo help Dinohyumon," the Tamer mimicked his digimon's speech impairment. Eduardo continued to climb up until he was sitting on top of Birdramon's back. "Now how do you steer this thing?" he cried, grabbing onto the bird's neck.

XXX

Blackened by Doggymon's explosive present, Peter and Dorumon continued to chase the digimon for food as Tyler and Meramon followed. "There will be blood!" Peter yelled after the Doggymon. The digimon just laughed his amusement the entire time. "This isn't funny! You hear me? This isn't funny!"

Doggymon snickered again as he ran them across the wastes. "Peter, lets just give up!" Tyler suggested. "I'm sure we can find something else to eat!"

"This one must die!" Peter declared. Dorumon growled in agreement.

"Whatever," Tyler said as he and Meramon ran after Peter and Dorumon.

Tyler shook his head in annoyance. When he looked back up, Peter and his partner were gone. Doggymon was keeled over laughing with a bright red face. Tyler didn't see the hole until it was too late.

XXX

Eduardo pulled on Birdramon's fiery feathers in an attempt to make him land. Instead, the digimon screeched and released Dinohyumon. The primitive digimon began falling from the hundreds of feet up that Birdramon had climbed since Eduardo latched on.

"Oh crap," Eduardo said as he watched his digimon plummet. Eduardo pulled on some more feathers and managed to turn the Birdramon around and sent him into a clumsy nosedive towards Dinohyumon. Birdramon fought with Eduardo the entire time, but he had the digimon under control for the most part.

Eduardo quickly maneuvered the bird underneath Dinohyumon, who grabbed onto Birdramon's tail and quickly climbed up and seated himself behind Eduardo. "Eduardo fly?"

"Yeah, I think so," he replied nervously. "I guess I gotta learn now!"

XXX

"This cant seriously be happening right now," Tyler groaned. He was covered in a foul smelling sludge, somewhat the consistency of thick mud. The hole they had fallen into was actually somewhat small, but opened up into a huge cavern once they were down at the bottom.

"Welcome to the club," Peter was sitting in the shin-deep sludge with his knees up. He was leaning forward with his arms resting on his legs. They and their digimon had fallen into a very deep pit. The smell was nauseating. "I can't take it anymore! I'm so sick and tired of that Doggymon tricking us!" he suddenly shot up and clawed at the walls of the pit, trying to climb out. He didn't get very far before the sludge became too slick for his fingers to hold onto.

Peter fell back down to the bottom, flinging the sludge everywhere and splattering it on Tyler and the other digimon. "I swear, if I get anymore of this gunk on me, you're gonna pay," Tyler threatened him, reaching for his digivice. It wasn't there. Tyler looked up and saw the Doggymon showing off his new prizes: their digivices. "Well that's just fantastic." Meramon stood silent the whole time while the curious and playful Dorumon rolled around in the sludge, covering himself. "Your digimon is disgusting."

"Hey! Don't make fun of Dorumon!" Peter spat back.

Tyler ignored him and looked up at the sky. He could see Doggymon looking down at them and laughing. "Get us out of here!" he demanded of the mischievous digimon.

Doggymon fell over backwards laughing at them. "Help!" Peter yelled, not necessarily at the Doggymon, but whoever else could hear them. "Help us! Help!"

"Forget it Peter," Tyler told him. "There's nobody out there who will help us."

Peter wouldn't give it up however, and simply continued to yell for help.

"And what is that horrid smell?" Tyler yelled in anger as he kicked at the sludge. Beneath the sludge he had removed was a yellow face with huge eyes.

XXX

Stingmon tried several times to attack Rockmon head on, each time quickly being knocked away by a heave fist. He couldn't manage to get around him either since the large digimon was too fast, or when Rockmon wasn't already in position to intercept, large chunks of ground were sent to collide with Stingmon. It wasn't long after being knocked out of the air that Rockmon would be there to melee him with his rocky appendages.

Stingmon had to come up with some sort of a plan before Gladimon was pummeled into the ground by Unimon's hooves. He could see Alyssa watching in horror, unable to do anything to save her partner. Amber was looking at Stingmon with determination, but still running through the same problem that he was: how to get to Gladimon before it was too late.

Eduardo saw what was happening below and tried to steer Birdramon down to get a better look. There was no way that he could use Birdramon to save Gladimon because Eduardo didn't have nearly enough control over the bird to attempt anything. He started studying the situation, hoping for any kind of clue, some way that he can help. It was then that he spotted something useful. Smoke seemed to be pouring out of Rockmon's from a couple of holes.

"Amber!" he called down to her. "Tell Stingmon I have a plan! We need to get a hold of some of those rocks he's throwing!"

Amber nodded and relayed the information to her partner. Stingmon flew up into the air and attempted to fly over the golem digimon. As he expected, the Rockmon once again hurled rocky clumps in his direction, which he, Eduardo, and Dinohyumon caught.

They split up, Eduardo and Dinohyumon circling the Birdramon around Rockmon and Stingmon keeping the enemy's attention locked on him. Rockmon hurled rocks at Stingmon, even hitting him a few times and knocking him out of the air. Barely managing to control and maneuver Birdramon, Eduardo made the bird digimon fly close enough to Rockmon for him to spill the rocks into the geysers on the golem's back.

At first nothing seemed to happen as Rockmon continued to throw rocks at Stingmon, finally hitting him multiple times after he had fallen to the ground. Rockmon suddenly stopped and froze. Something was wrong with him. He belched loudly. It was an earth-shattering belch that seemed to rock the ground and vibrate within Eduardo. Everybody seemed to stop. Unimon halted his pummeling of Gladimon, and they both turned their heads to watch. Stingmon rose up from the pile of rubble that was crushing him, curious why the attacks stopped. Alyssa and Amber stood silently, watching to see what would happen. Even Birdramon stopped resisting Eduardo's control as they watched.

The only ones who were moving still where Snimon and DarkTyrannomon on the other side of the wall, where Snimon could occasionally be seen battling his opponent's Fire Blast attacks. The other three Tamers on the opposite side of the arena stood there in silence as well.

"What'd you do to my Rockmon?" one of the boys yelled. All was quiet for a moment. And then there was a gurgling coming from the digimon. Rockmon started to expand, starting with his gut, but soon his arms, legs, and chest began to expand and grow as well.

Cracks began showing up all over his body and a bright light flowed freely from his core. Rockmon stumbled back and forth as the cracks grew bigger and bigger as his body expanded larger and larger.

Stingmon stood up, threw his arms down hard so that two hidden spikes on his arms were revealed, then rushed Rockmon. "Spiking Strike!" he yelled and buried the two stingers deep inside Rockmon's cracks. Then pulling hard, Stingmon tore the rock digimon in half and it dissolved into data.

Everybody stood there for a moment until Daemon stood up and raised a hand. "Fight you bloody fools!" At his command, the battle raged on again as Unimon continued to pummel Gladimon with his hooves. It wasn't long before the beaten and injured Stingmon was able to strike Unimon and knock him away from Gladimon.

Forcing Birdramon into another nosedive, he aimed at Unimon. From behind him, Dinohyumon yelled "Akinakes!" and struck the digimon with his large blade. It was Gladimon however who had the last strike. Yelling "Wheel Rush!" he rolled as fast as he could into Unimon, crushing him against the wall and dispersing his data everywhere.

Eduardo, Dinohyumon, Alyssa, Gladimon, Amber, and Stingmon all cheered. "Fire Blast!" DarkTyrannomon cried. The attack struck Birdramon and knocked Eduardo and Dinohyumon to the ground. Birdramon crashed down in front of Eduardo and broke into data.

Everybody looked over and saw DarkTyrannomon struggling to climb over the edge of the arena wall. Snimon, who had latched onto the dinosaur's tail, was holding him back. DarkTyrannomon clawed at Snimon, causing him to loosen his grip. The digimon managed to crawl back over the wall and into the arena. Snimon had recovered though and was already flying into the air after him.

XXX

Seeing the face, Tyler jumped and fell over backwards in the sludge and scrambled away until his back was against the rocky wall. "What the hell is that?" he yelled.

The yellow face pulled itself out of the sludge. It looked like a yellow body of sludge with two scrawny, yet muscled arms decorated in black belts. "Oh hai dar!" it yelled out in surprise and happiness. "Mai name is Sukamon! We should be friends, you and I!"

"It's a digimon," Peter exclaimed with a dumbfounded look.

"Well, duh, I'm a digimon!" Sukamon said as he hopped in Peter's direction. "What, uh, what kinda creature are you eh?"

"Tyler, is it dangerous?" Peter asked his friend.

"I don't think so," Tyler told him, standing up again. "You live here, Sukamon?"

"Yes I do! Isn't it beautiful?"

"Not the word I'd use," Tyler retorted, looking around at the foul smelling sludge.

"Tyler," Meramon said to his Tamer. "I really think we should find a way to leave."

"Really now? I had no clue. Would you like to point out anything else that's already obvious?"

"No, you don't understand," Meramon continued. "This is isn't mud."

Tyler looked down as the gears in his head clicked. He turned around and beat his hands on the wall of the hole yelling, "Help! Get us out of here! Let me go right now!"

Sukamon grabbed a pile of the putrid 'sludge' and hugged it, covering himself in it. "We're gonna be friends forever!"

Tyler saw Doggymon above him. The digimon was laughing uncontrollably at him.

XXX

DarkTyrannomon grabbed Snimon out of the air and slammed him down into the ground. Eduardo and Dinohyumon rolled away and were nearly crushed but the giant bug. As they scrambled away to safety, DarkTyrannomon shot off a few Fire Blasts at them, which they narrowly managed to dodge.

The two monstrous digimon fought and fought more, rolling around and scratching and biting and destroying all that got in their way. It took every ounce of Eduardo's agility to avoid being squashed flat since he was in the middle of the arena, unlike the two girls. Austin seemed to enjoy the carnage. He stood right in the middle of the fray and soaked in the violence like a sponge, laughing the entire time as the two digimon pummeled each other.

DarkTyrannomon's tail came crashing down in front of Eduardo as Snimon pinned the dinosaur to the ground and started slashing. "Ed! Get out of there!" Amber yelled at him.

"You're gonna get squashed flat!" Alyssa yelled too.

"I'm trying!" Eduardo yelled back at his friends. It seemed that every time Eduardo turned around one of the monster digimon's appendages would come crashing down near him. There was no escaping the monolithic creatures as they rampaged and rolled around the coliseum.

"We gotta help him, Amber!" Alyssa said.

"Yeah, but how?" Amber asked. "Both of our digimon are weakened from the beatings they took!"

Suddenly, Snimon flew up into the air and used his Twin Sickles attack, striking DarkTyrannomon's belly. The beastly digimon roared in pain and with lightning fast reflexes, he stood up and began spewing fire from his mouth, dowsing the entire immediate area in flame.

Dinohyumon used his huge blades to cut through the flames that were threatening to engulf Eduardo. "Thanks Dinohyumon," the boy said to his partner. The digimon grunted in response.

As the flames died down, Snimon charged at DarkTyrannomon and was met with a powerful uppercut punch. The bug digimon was sent flying across the arena as DarkTyrannomon charged and followed him. The dinosaur digimon pinned Snimon to the wall and began to crush the life out of him. Snimon appeared unable to break free from his opponent's grasp as he struggled against DarkTyrannomon's strength.

"Dinohyumon!" Eduardo cried. "I hate to say this, but we gotta save Snimon! We won't be able to beat DarkTyrannomon without him!"

"Right!" the primitive digimon agreed. "Me make distraction. Take DarkTyrannomon attention away."

"Good! I'll help too!"

The Tamer and his partner ran to opposite sides of DarkTyrannomon and flanked him. Eduardo started throwing any rocks he could find, but they bounced off of the dinosaur with little effect.

Dinohyumon dug his Akinakes blade deep into DarkTyrannomon's leg and started dragging his blade through the flesh, tearing it open in a huge gash. DarkTyrannomon shrieked in pain again. With a mighty clawed hand he struck Dinohyumon and sent him crashing into the nearby wall. Deciding that wasn't enough, DarkTyrannomon spewed fire onto the limb digimon, singing and burning him.

"Dinohyumon!" Eduardo yelled and rushed as close to his partner as he dared without burning himself.

Satisfied with the digimon's punishment, DarkTyrannomon went back to clawing at Snimon. Eduardo ran over to his digimon. Dinohyumon's data was badly glitched. His programming was close to falling apart. The digimon wasn't in good shape.

"Dinohyumon," Eduardo gasped. "Don't move buddy! Just rest okay?"

Dinohyumon struggled and stood up shakily. "Must save Snimon," the digimon grunted, shrugging off his pain. He hefted his large weapon and charged again.

"No wait! You're too damaged!" Eduardo called after his friend.

"Eduardo!" Austin called with dislike. "Your digimon is getting in my way!"

Dinohyumon slashed again and again at DarkTyrannomon, trying to deal as much damage as he could. Annoyed, DarkTyrannomon spit out more fire in his direction, which Dinohyumon's damaged body only barely managed to escape.

Eduardo understood what he was doing though. Dinohyumon was fighting for survival. If he stood by and did nothing, then he would die. It wouldn't be just him either. Eduardo and the girls and the other digimon would all die and he was the only one trying to stop it.

"He's fighting for all of us," Eduardo whispered. "If my partner is going to fight, then I will too!" he rushed in after his digimon, picked up a large rock, and smashed it into DarkTyrannomon's thick hide.

Stingmon stood up, gripping his arm. "If those two can fight, hurt as they are, then I can too, Amber." He then flew up into the air and started attacking DarkTyrannomon relentlessly.

"I agree with Stingmon!" Gladimon told Alyssa. "We can't stand by while he does all of the work!" He rolled into a ball and rushed the giant enemy.

"They're right you know," amber told her friend.

"Yeah I know," Alyssa agreed. They two girls also rushed in, picking up rocks like Eduardo and smashing them into DarkTyrannomon.

This was no longer an arena battle for Eduardo. Suddenly, he understood what this really was. It was his way of defying Lord Daemon. He was going to tell him that he wouldn't bow down and be defeated. He was going to tell him that even the little guy can contribute. To somebody else, this might not make sense. In a way he was giving in to what Daemon wanted most in his trainees, but Eduardo can't escape from this. Being a soldier in Lord Daemon's army was his destiny. Eduardo would never turn away from his destiny, but he'll defy it in anyway possible.

XXX

Tyler and Peter looked defeated. There was no way out of their imprisoning hole. Doggymon clearly wasn't going to help them anytime soon and Sukamon wanted them to stay there and be his friend forever.

"Can't we digivolve or something?" Peter asked.

"No," Tyler spoke flatly as he sulked.

"Why not?"

"Because my digimon can't fly and your digimon will have these caverns topple on top of us. Is that what you want?"

"I s'pose not," Peter conceded.

In the background, Meramon was spewing fire from his hands onto the dung, attempting to bake it into something solid for them to sit on. "How's it coming Meramon?" Tyler asked his partner. Meramon grunted and continued his work.

Meanwhile, Sukamon and Dorumon were playing with each other, throwing the dung back and forth and tackling each other in the foul smelling gunk. They stopped for a moment and Sukamon called over to the two humans, "Hey! You two should really try this! This is so much fun!"

The humans looked at the two digimon in disgust as they continued to roll around in the offensive sludge. Tyler grimaced and turned his back. "Gah!" he yelled. "How do we get out of here?" he kicked the side of a wall hard.

There was a grumbling sound from behind the wall and cracks splintered their way along the surface. "What'd you do?" Peter cried as he saw the wall slowly bulging outward.

"I haven't done anything!" Tyler shot back. Peter, Dorumon, Sukamon, and Meramon ran over to where Tyler stood.

"Well then what's going on?" Peter demanded an answer.

Suddenly, two scaly, green hands shot out of the stone wall. Bits of debris flew past the two boys and three digimon. "uh oh," Sukamon gulped. "You woke up my roommate."

"Roommate?" Peter asked incredulously.

"Yep! Groundramon," Sukamon explained. "He usually sleeps and lets me have the cave, but you woke him up! And he doesn't sound happy!"

"Megaton Hammer Crush!" Groundramon yelled. Suddenly, an iron wrecking ball shot out of the hole in the wall and smacked the five of them aside, sending them hurtling to the other side.

Doggymon's laughter was beginning to abate.

XXX


	45. Presence

Brian, Agumon, and Gatomon searched for Hope for the rest of the day, but to no avail. They eventually made their camp in a dense part of the forest where they felt that they wouldn't be seen by any wild digimon. After nightfall, they made as small of a fire as possible and ate a small meal. Everybody kept silent for the most part.

After they ate, Brian found a small corner to be alone opened up the files he downloaded to his digivice. "What're you doing, Brian?" Agumon asked, walking over to his friend. Gatomon followed.

"I was just looking through those files that I downloaded back at the factory." He showed the digivice to the digimon. "Apparently those gears they were manufacturing were used to control digimon and make them evil. It increased their anger and made them more violent. All they wanted to do was destroy things."

"Like how I wanted to destroy the gear that I picked up!" Agumon said.

"Yeah I guess that even your brief contact made you irritable," Brian agreed. "These files describe a digimon they were studying though. I guess it was a parasite of some sort and they were trying to copy the effects that this digimon had when it infected another creature."

"What is the digimon called?" Gatomon inquired.

"The files don't really say," Brian told them. "But they say that it infects the host and increases all of their abilities, bringing out their greatest potential. It also amplifies their desires and uses it as a weakness against the host."

"So you think that they were studying this digimon so that they could copy its properties into the gears?" Gatomon clarified.

"Yeah I think that's exactly what they were doing," Brian agreed. "And I think this digimon escaped when we fell into the factory and took Hope as its host."

"So, what do we do now?" Agumon asked.

"Well, this thing probably has access to all of Hope's memories right?" Brian suggested. "Well it said something about finally being free, so maybe it would want to experience the world that Hope has experienced?"

"So then we should back track the way we came!" Gatomon jumped up excitedly. "Yeah! C'mon guys! Let's go find Hope! If she really is trying to see the world, then it should be easy to track her down! We'll just go back to all of our old campsites and—"

"Gatomon, slow down," Brian said. "It's too late to go searching for her now."

"Yeah," the cat digimon hung her head down sadly. "I s'pose you're right."

"I know you're worried about Hope, Gatomon," Brian told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We all are, trust me."

XXX

The Tamers of cabin D36 continued their onslaught as they attacked DarkTyrannomon together. Suddenly, Eduardo was grabbed from behind by somebody and thrown to the ground.

Looking down at him was one of the large Tamers from the opposing team. "You killed my Rockmon!" the boy yelled. He then got on top of Eduardo and started to beat him, smashing his fists into Eduardo's face. The boy dropped Eduardo back to the ground and kicked him hard in the side. The wind was kicked out of his lungs and he could feel hot blood rushing from his nose.

"My Birdramon is digitized because of you!" another boy said as he kicked Eduardo in the back.

"And my Unimon!" a third boy cried smothering Eduardo with a handful of sand. "It's all your fault!"

Blinded by the sand, unable to breathe, and blood pouring from his nose, Eduardo felt himself picked up by the collar. Somebody then held his arms behind his back. As the air finally came back into his lungs, he could start to make out blurry figures despite the sand in his eyes. "DarkTyrannomon will still defeat the others," a fourth Tamer said. "But you probably won't live long enough to see it." The boy threw a punch, which landed in Eduardo's stomach.

Eduardo instinctively doubled over in pain but couldn't manage it because of the Tamer holding his arms.

"Lord Daemon," Taylor said. "Should we not do something?"

"I was not aware that the humans could die in here except by accident," Sara agreed.

"This one has shown defiance to his team members and to the opposing team," Daemon told them. "He is getting what is coming to him. He has proven most resourceful though. We shall see what happens."

The two girls nodded and continued to watch as the four boys beat Eduardo half to death without anybody else even noticing. It wasn't until Dinohyumon finally glanced up from his mind consuming bloodbath did he finally notice that his partner was down.

Enraged by what he saw being done to his best friend, he leaped away from DarkTyrannomon and picked up the boy hitting Eduardo by the collar. He held the boy close to his reptilian face and roared, spittle spewing off of his fearsome teeth. He then threw the boy across the arena, shattering some of the boy's bones. The other three tamers looked at each other, fear etched on their faces, before they bolted after their friend.

Soon, DarkTyrannomon knocked Snimon into the air with a Fire Blast attack and managed to lift himself up under the onslaught of Alyssa, Amber, Gladimon, and Stingmon. The large dinosaur backhanded them all with one swipe and they were sent flying. The digimon stood back up and shot flames into the air, targeting Snimon who was now charging down at him.

Snimon charged right through the attack but the flames distracted him long enough for DarkTyrannomon to grab the powerful digimon out of the air and swing him around, plowing the bug head first into the arena wall. The stonework cracked and crumbled where he hit.

"Snimon!" Austin yelled at his digimon. "Get your ass up and kill this dino!"

As DarkTyrannomon poured fire onto the green insect digimon, Snimon elbowed his opponent and caused him to stumble. Taking the advantage, Snimon forced his Twin Sickle attack through DarkTyrannomon's abdomen. The over-sized lizard wasn't about to give up yet however. Using immense strength, the black dinosaur pulled Snimon's scythes out of his belly and forced them into Snimon's chest, breaking the digimon's arms.

"No way!" Eduardo awed, wiping blood from his lip. Snimon screeched in pain as DarkTyrannomon smiled.

"Snimon! Don't you dare lose this!" Austin threatened.

"Dinohyumon, you have to help them somehow!" Eduardo said to his partner.

"Me do for Eduardo," Dinohyumon told his Tamer. The dinosaur-man charged into the fray yet again and leaped into the air, aiming for DarkTyrannomon. He sunk his Akinakes blade deep into the wound on his belly and used his own weight to drag the blade down, causing a larger hole. Roaring in pain, DarkTyrannomon let go of Snimon and aimed a Fire Blast attack at Dinohyumon.

Eduardo's digimon couldn't escape the fire. The blast was like an explosion, sending the digimon flying yet again. Snimon, despite both his broken arms, yelled "Twin Sickle Destroyer!" and sent a flurry of purple energy bolts which tore through DarkTyrannomon. The dinosaur digimon fell over, dissolving into data before hitting the ground.

Daemon stood up and clapped.

XXX

Brian awoke before the others and quickly had everybody awake and the camp cleaned up. Skipping breakfast, he urged the two digimon to help him search for Hope more.

"But Brian, I'm hungry!" Agumon told his tamer. "We haven't eaten since dinner last night, and that was just some jerky! Hardly enough food for me."

"I could give you a Mammothmon for food and it still wouldn't be enough," Gatomon said harshly.

"I know Agumon, I'm hungry too," Brian told his friend, ignoring Gatomon. "But we have to find Hope. It's my fault that she's in trouble right now, and we've gotta save her!"

"I'm fine with skipping a meal or two to find my partner," Gatomon agreed. "She's in danger! And since the fault falls onto you two knuckle heads, its your duty to help me find her!"

"Yes, master," Brian retorted.

"Watch it!" Gatomon threatened. "I have no qualms hitting Agumon, and I have even less of a problem with hitting you!"

"Okay, okay," Brian said, backing down. "Let's just find a way to get back to where we were yesterday okay?"

"I think we have to go over this way," Gatomon pointed up a nearby hill.

"Worth a shot," Brian agreed. "C'mon Agumon."

They searched for several hours, looking all over for any recognizable location, but they came up empty handed. They decided to take a quick rest for lunch. As Gatomon cooked, Brian and Agumon decided to try tinkering with his digivice again.

"I thought you already went through the files," Agumon said.

"Not all of them," the Tamers told the digimon. "There's still a few on here that I didn't manage to- whoa what the hell?" Brian suddenly dropped his digivice when a hologram appeared over his screen. At first it was just a bunch of rotating circles and binary code, mixed with some digicode. Soon the image changed to that of a planet. It was slowly rotating.

"Hey!" Agumon exclaimed. "That looks familiar!"

Curious, Gatomon made her way over to take a look. "Isn't that the Server continent?" She asked pointing to a place on the holographic globe.

"It might be," Brian agreed. "I think this here used to be where Agumon lived," he pointed to a location on Server. He pointed to another spot, "And this here is where Hope and I met." The map seemed to be extremely accurate, as opposed to previous maps they had used. Most maps of the digital world didn't show what the world looked like after the Digital Wastes started popping up.

"Didn't there used to be a forest near where we found Hope though?" Agumon asked. He was right, there was a forest there, but there wasn't on this map.

"Yeah there was," Brian said. "But this is unmistakeably the same place! Look, you can even see where the river used to be. Remember the river in the forest where we fought Billy?"

"Yeah I do!" Agumon exclaimed.

"How could I forget?" Gatomon mused. "It was right after being partnered to Hope! That was a really good day, even though I was really scared of leading Billy to her."

"Gatomon, I don't recognize this continent," Agumon pointed to a large landmass that reminded Brian of a computer screen. "Do you know what this place is?"

"You're digivice must be busted, Brian," Gatomon told him. "There is no landmass there. That is supposed to be an area of ocean known as the Monitor Zone. A lot of digimon have tried to map its waters but none ever return. The closest you can get to visiting is staying just barely out of its borders. You really only see blank waters but some digimon are still foolish and think they can survive when no one else has."

Brian watched the hologram rotate until he could see Folder continent. There were still some green patches on this continent. As Brian watched, suddenly one of the green patches dissolved, leaving behind the bleak Wasteland behind. "I don't think it's busted, Gatomon."

"Why not, Brian?" Agumon asked.

"Because I just watched the Digital Wastes expand. It's like this map shows the world in real-time."

"You mean your digivice can see the world exactly as it is at any time?" Gatomon asked shocked.

"Yeah I think so!" Brian was getting excited. Before now, the closest his digivice could get to a map was a sort of radar function. It showed a blank screen which viewed approximately five hundred feet in ever direction and would show anything of interest with a black dot. He couldn't see any detail of the land or anything like that because the screen only showed the area in 2-bit graphics. "My digivice just got a serious upgrade!" Brian was grinning from ear to ear.

As the hologram continued to rotate, Brian continued to study. As he watched Net Ocean roll under his eyes, he saw a blinking red dot. He touched his finger to the dot and the hologram flattened out and zoomed in. He could now see three island surrounded by the vast Net Ocean.

"Is that-?" Gatomon asked.

"Yeah I think so!" Brian exclaimed again. He pulled out the paper map that Hookmon had given him, just to be sure. He was right. "The maps match up almost perfectly!" The area he had zoomed in on was the Digital Keys, the very same island chain they were currently on.

"Well looky there!" Gatomon said amused. "Caps Key, Num Key, and Scroll Key! But... they look different on the hologram."

Gatomon was right. The first two islands looked very much the same, except for the burned down forest on Caps was visible apparent on the Hologram, but Scroll Key didn't look anything like the paper map. The paper map showed a beautiful jungle landscape, very much the same as the area they were currently in, but the hologram showed that the other side of the island was mostly Wastes.

"Looks like the Wastes are spreading even way out here," Brian acknowledged, disheartened. He touched his finger to Scroll and it zoomed in closer. He could now see that the red blinking dot showed his location. "But on the bright side...!"

"Look how close we are to where we fell into the factory!" Gatomon exclaimed.

"Yay!" Agumon cheered. "We're gonna find Hope! We're gonna find Hope!"

Overwhelmed with happiness, Gatomon grabbed Agumon's hands and started to jump and dance until she realized what she was doing and smacked the other digimon. "Don't touch me, Agumon!" she cried.

Agumon lay on the ground, rubbing the sore spot on his large head. "Ow, Gatomon!"

"C'mon guys!" Brian said as he jumped to his feet. "Let's forget about lunch and go find Hope! There's no way that I can sit here and eat knowing that she's so close!"

The digimon also jumped to their feet and followed Brian into the dense jungle.

* * *

XXX

"Not bad, Cabin D36! Not bad at all!" Drill Sargent Etemon congratulated the Tamers after they had washed up from the battle. "Try to keep those uniforms in tip top condition though, ya'hear? That's the only one you get."

Snimon was chained up and hauled off again, screaming in pain, anger, and defiance the entire time. Not even Austin could get him to calm down. Despite the beastly digimon's tremendous injuries, he still had an insatiable blood-lust. The remaining digimon and their Tamers, beaten, bloody, and battle-worn, shuffled into the locker rooms.

"Hey, where are my clothes?" Alyssa asked when she opened her locker. All of their clothes had gone missing, and left behind was a simple orange jumpsuit.

"Your human clothes are no longer necessary here," Etemon told them, leaning against a wall behind them, arms crossed. "From now on, you will all where these lounge jumpsuits when you aren't in the arenas."

Eduardo held up his own lounge clothes. They looked like they would fit him, rather comfortably too. The four Tamers each stripped off their armored jumpsuits and pulled on the orange lounge ones and exited the locker rooms through the other door.

The four Tamers and the three digimon filed back to their cabin. The girls and the digimon entered first. As Eduardo as about to follow them in, Austin grabbed his shoulder and spun Eduardo around, pinning him to the side of the wall.

"If you ever interfere with my fight again, I will kill you and your digimon." Austin's tone was flat and his eyes were level. To anybody looking, he seemed to be perfectly calm, but Eduardo could see the anger and hatred etched in the other boy's eyes.

Eduardo tried to shake himself free but Austins grip was too strong. The bigger boy just pushed him against the wall harder. "This is not an idle threat, Eddy." Austin breathed into his ear. Austin let him go and he walked into the cabin. Eduardo followed him in and laid down on his bed, ready for sleep to take him.

XXX

Brian, Agumon, and Gatomon rushed through the dense forest as fast as they could, desperate to find any location they had been to before. Brian had the hologram map on his digivice held out in front of him as he ran, looking back and forth between it and where he was going.

He stumbled and tripped over a fallen tree. "Are you okay?" Agumon asked his partner, helping him up.

"I am now," Brian said excited. "Look!" Agumon and Gatomon looked ahead of them, just as Brian told them to. It was the area where they had first encountered MadLeomon. The ground was all torn up from the fight and from the ceiling of the factory caving in.

The three of them walked over to the edge of the crater-like opening into the gear factory and peered down. Pitch black. "Well, lets try to avoid this hole, what do you two think?" Brian said. The other two agreed and they started to walk away.

"So the plan is to keep backtracking and hope we find her?" Gatomon said.

"Yeah, I cant think of any better plans, can you?" the Tamer replied.

"I wouldn't mind eating as a plan," Agumon suggested.

"No you dolt," Gatomon snapped, leading the way down the path they had made previously. "This is far more important than filling your gut!"

The reptile digimon looked to his Tamer with wishful eyes. "I'm sorry buddy," Brian told him. "But I agree with Gatomon this time."

Agumon dropped his head as his stomach growled. The trio continued to walk at a quick pace through the forest, following the path. All over they found large lion prints in the mud. "MadLeomon, no doubt," Brian commented when they stopped to look at them. The prints seemed to be going in all directions. It was like he couldn't walk in a straight line and hobbled incoherently everywhere he went, making tracking him nearly impossible.

They continued to walk along the path until nightfall when they decided to try to make a camp. Keeping only a small fire, the Tamer and the two digimon huddled around it for warmth. Just as Agumon started to dig into the pack for food, they started hearing voices.

"What was that?" Agumon cried, somewhat afraid.

"It was probably the wind," Gatomon reasoned, also feeling a small amount of fear rising.

"Guys, stay calm," Brian spoke. "Gatomon is right, it's probably just the wind." He listened long and hard. Soon the sounds of whispers went away. "See?"

"Don't be so sure, Brian," an eerie sound called out from the forest. It was that same double voice from before, Hope's voice underneath the voice of whatever was possessing her.

"Hope? Is that you?" Agumon asked.

"No buddy," Brian told his partner. "It's just some parasite pretending to be Hope!" he was looking around, trying to figure out where the possessed girl was hiding, which shadowy tree would she jump from.

"Why have you followed me?" the double-voice rang out from the forest, seemingly from all angles. "Do you want to be my partner, Brian? The girl thinks highly of you after all, she thinks you would make a good partner for me."

"She does?" Brian was caught off guard. "I—I mean... um..." Brian blushed. "Why don't you just give Hope back, eh?"

"Yeah!" Gatomon agreed. "Let my partner go!"

"Don't make me digivolve!" Agumon threatened.

"Agumon!" Gatomon knocked the other digimon off his feet. "You idiot! You can't hurt her!"

"That's right," Hope said to them, still hiding. "You wouldn't want to hurt your dear friend now, would you?"

Brian growled. "C'mon out! Stop being a coward and face us!" he yelled into the night.

"Why should I?" Hope asked him. "I think I should just kill you all and be done with it." Hope lunged out of the darkness, crawling on the eight insectoid legs the sprouted from her back. Before anybody could react, she had grabbed Brian with four of the legs and had leaped out of the digimon's reach back into the trees. Staying in the fire light, her possessor held the boy in front of Hope's limp body. "Won't you be my partner, Brian?" the creature said with Hope's voice.

"Let him go! Pepper Breath!" Agumon cried.

"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon yelled, knocking Agumon down again. "Stop trying to attack my partner!" she shrieked at him.

"But we have to do something!" Agumon said.

"I met a new friend out in the forest, Brian," Hope said, bringing him closer to her face. "I think you've already been introduced! He is the perfect digimon for me to control. And this little device helped me control him!" The possessed Hope held up her digivice. "MadLeomon! I have need of you!"

The beastly digimon jumped out of the forest, tearing huge chunks of dirt out of the ground as he landed in the clearing. He roared loudly and charged at Agumon and Gatomon.

"Now that, you can hit," Gatomon said to Agumon as she smirked. "Lightning Paw!" she cried as she delivered an uppercut to the the beast's jaw.

MadLeomon stopped, his head turn upward and a disgusting angle. The digimon smiled and looked back down at Gatomon. "Necrotoxin Claw!" he yelled, taking a swipe at the champion level. Gatomon was thrown back at Agumon, who caught her and fell over backwards.

MadLeomon charged at the two of them again. The two digimon got up and rushed away, Agumon sending fire balls back at their enemy repeatedly. "Pepper Breath! Pepper Breath!" he kept yelling. Each tiny fireball dissolved against MadLeomon's fur and armor.

"Agumon! You have to digivolve!" Brian yelled to his partner.

"Okay!" Agumon stopped and turned around to face MadLeomon. "Agumon digivolve to-! Agumon?" The little reptile digimon stood there confused as nothing happened other than his stomach growling. "Uh oh."

"Necrotoxin Claw!" MadLeomon said as he slashed at Agumon, sending him back a few feet. The large digimon the bounded after him, galloping on all four.

"Leave him alone, you big bully!" Gatomon called, chasing after. She leaped onto MadLeomon's back and pounded a flurry of punches onto the back of his neck. MadLeomon roared from the volley and threw his head into the sky, knocking Gatomon off balance. She was able to barely hang on by latching onto clumps of his fur.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon shouted, sending fireballs into MadLeomon's exposed chest. The beast stumble backwards as the attacks hit him. MadLeomon grabbed Gatomon off of his back and threw her into the trunk of the tree that Hope was holding Brian in. MadLeomon used his fist to smash Agumon into the ground before charging after Gatomon.

"Hope would kill me if anything happened to Gatomon," Brian mumbled.

"What was that boy?" the impersonator Hope asked him.

"I said-," Brian then slammed his own head into Hope's. The distraction was enough for Brian to wriggle free from her grasp and fall to the ground. He quickly got up, and after holding his head for a split second, he summoned his DigiBlade just in time for the blade to stop MadLeomon from knocking the sense out of both he and Gatomon.

"Idiot," Hope commented. "Maybe the girl was wrong about his abilities as a Tamer. Only a fool would go toe-to-toe with a monster like MadLeomon."

"Maybe I am an idiot," Brian grunted as MadLeomon pushed harder against the DigiBlade. "But I can't just stand by when my friends are in danger!" He glanced down at Gatomon who was knocked out cold at his feet. "That includes you, Hope! Somehow I'll save you!"

A bright orange light began to shine forth from the digivice clipped to Brian's belt. "Somehow!" he yelled again. "Somehow I have to!" The light shined brighter. Agumon began to stand up, power returning to him. The pain melted from the digimon's form as an orange aura engulfed him.

"Agumon digivolve to-!" The reptile digimon grew to be larger and more muscled. The familiar brown skull helmet formed on his head. But he continued to grow. The skull helmet was coated in metal and his left arm was mechanized. A metal chest plate covered the digimon's torso and wings sprouted from his back. "MetalGreymon!" He roared triumphantly.

"That was a neat trick," Hope commented.

"Trident Arm!" MetalGreymon yelled. The metal claw on the great digimon's left arm shout out towards MadLeomon, sinking into the enemy's rotting flesh. With a jerk of his arm, MetalGreymon caused MadLeomon to fly backwards, relieving the pressure from Brian. The great metal-clad dinosaur grabbed MadLeomon's arm and broke up behind his back. He held the opponent in a choke hold and twisted the creature's neck into a grotesque angle. MadLeomon dropped to the ground, near death and starting to digitize.

"I wonder if I can do that?" Hope asked herself. She held up her digivice and sickly purple color of light flashed on the screen. MadLeomon awkwardly stood back up on all fours. Data flowed into him as his arm and neck snapped back into place with a loud crack. The digimon growled with power as his eyes glowed red. Metal armor began to cover his chest and his right arm. His left arm was replaced by a devastating chainsaw.

"Oh, I like this digimon!" Hope said maniacally, still talking in her eerie double-voice. "I shall call him MadLeomon Armed Mode!"

The digivolved form of MadLeomon was bigger and badder than before, Brian was sure. "MetalGreymon! I want you to be really careful, okay? This guy looks really strong!"

"I got this, Brian," MetalGreymon said. "I can handle this guy no sweat! I've still got you by my side!"

Brian smiled. "Yeah you're right buddy! We can do anything together!" He took up his battleaxe and charged at MadLeomon. He swung the might weapon at the angry digimon's legs, but was blocked by the sinister chainsaw.

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight!" MadLeomon cried. The beast swung his chainsaw at Brian who was barely able to dodge the attack. He wildly threw the chainsaw in all directions, tearing apart trees and the ground. MetalGreymon kicked the other digimon in the back, causing him to topple over, but he recovered quickly and charged the dinosaur with his chainsaw.

Sparks flew as MetalGreymon blocked the chainsaw attack with his metal arm. MetalGreymon threw the chainsaw off of himself and used his other hand to scratch at the digimon. "Brian! Get away from him! This chainsaw is too dangerous!" MetalGreymon yelled to his Tamer.

Brian didn't want to abandon his partner, but he knew he was right. This digimon was far to dangerous for a human to be fighting. The Tamer ran over to where Gatomon still lay unconscious.

"I think it's time that I join into this fight," Hope said. "Electric Bind!" The legs sprouting from Hope's back attached themselves to MetalGreymon. Green tentacles grew from her back as well and entangled themselves around the dinosaur's body and pumped him full of electricity. MetalGreymon roared in pain and discomfort as MadLeomon slashed his chainsaw across MetalGreymon's chest plate.

The electricity caused a short circuit in MetalGreymon's wiring and the chest plates opened up, launching the nuclear missiles hidden inside. The trident arm also shot out and snapped a tree in half. The missiles flew off into the sky and disappeared. MetalGreymon slumped downward.

"MetalGreymon?" Brian choked. "MetalGreymon!" he ran over to his friend, his axe in hand. He would tear the chainsaw from MadLeomon's arm with his bare hands if he had to in order to get to his partner.

The large digimon started to go after Brian, but Hope said, "Stand down. I'll handle the boy."

Hope moved quickly over to him, suspended in air but the eight insect legs. The way she moved sickened Brian. The green tentacles grabbed him and lifted him up to her face. "So what?" Brian said. "You're gonna electrocute me? Kill me maybe? Feed me to your new pet? You aren't Hope. You never will be Hope. You're walking around in a costume. You're an imposter! You'll never be as good of a person as she is! You'll never be as extraordinary or talented! You'll always pale in comparison to the real Hope!"

"Silly human," she said bringing him closer to his face. "You will be my supper tonight! The girl will watch as she devours her friend. And you will die knowing that she whom you care about, was the one who killed you."

"Hope!" Brian called out to his friend. "I know you're still in there! You gotta fight! You gotta fight this... this thing!"

"How stupid can you be, boy?" the parasite said back to him. "You think that because you saw that in a movie or read it in a comic book that it actually works that way? That she can just fight me? Ha! I own her mind now. I allow her just enough consciousness to see what is happening. Just enough consciousness to torment her! The sadness and grief at killing you with her bare hands will torture her for years to come, sustaining me and keeping me alive for centuries!"

Behind the parasite, Hope was screaming inside of herself. Trying to call out to Brian. Trying to stop herself from what she was about to do.

"I'd much rather be killed by Hope than anybody," he said calmly.

"I'm not going to kill you!" Hope screamed out of her own mouth.

"H-Hope?" Brian asked, surprised.

"Shut up, you stupid girl!" the parasite shot. "You cannot break my hold!"

"No! Let me go!" She yelled again. "I won't do it! I won't kill Brian!" Hope's digivice began to react and glow a pure white light.

"What? What is this?" the parasite shrieked. "What are you doing to me?"

Brian was dropped to the ground and Hope held her hands to her head. "Let me go! No, I will never let you go! I won't kill him! You will do as you're told! I'm not your puppet!"

The battle that Hope was waging was one that Brian could not imagine. It was one that he had never fought. The very thought of what Hope was going through right now scared him.

The white light pouring out of Hope's digivice swirled and penetrated the girl, piercing the darkness inside of her. "No!" the parasite yelled. It then fell out of her, expelled by the power of the digivice. It lay there on the ground, screeching in pain and smoking from the light. Brian stamped his foot down on it, crushing it and dissolving it into data.

MadLeomon was confused as to what it should do now, but a bout of pain from deep within caused him to lose what little control over his mind he had. He lunged at Hope, who was curled into a ball and holding her head. The digivice reacted again, piercing MadLeomon with the same consuming light from before. MadLeomon was lifted into the air and flung across the clearing.

Brian hesitated, and then ran over to the digimon. What he saw before him wasn't MadLeomon anymore. It was a digimon who looked a lot like Leomon, except he was wearing a hat and a black jacket, draped around his shoulders. Two red scars crisscrossed over his chest and a piece of straw stuck out from his mouth. "I am BanchoLeomon," the creature gasped, clearly in pain. "Or, I am him again. I have been in so much pain, for so long. Thank you." He then dissolved into data and disappeared.

"It wasn't me, but I will pass along your message, BanchoLeomon," Brian said, mournful. He ran back over to Hope, who was now sitting up, and put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay, Hope?"

She turned to him and hugged him tightly. "Yeah, I'm okay, Brian."

He hesitantly hugged her back as Koromon and Gatomon came over to them. Letting her go, Brian picked up Koromon and made sure that he was okay.

"Gatomon!" Hope exclaimed happily.

"Hope!" the little digimon jumped into her Tamer's arms.

After everybody made sure that everybody else was okay, the two digivices began to go off, beeping and flashing. "What's going on?" Koromon asked.

"We just picked up a signal!" Brian replied, activating the holo-map. "According to this, the signal is coming from the top of the mountain! On this island!"

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Hope asked, shocked.

"I'll tell you later, okay?" Brian promised. "For right now, I think we should check this signal out!"

* * *

* * *

XXX 


	46. My Dark Sacrifice

Billy opened his eyes slowly. He felt nauseated and his head was pounding. Sitting on his chest was a sleeping DemiDevimon. Billy rolled onto his side and sat up. Startled, DemiDevimon flew up into the air.

"Aw, geez boss you scared me!" the bird cried. He flew down and landed on the cot beside Billy.

The dark boy sat on the cot with his feet on the ground and his head in his hands. He could barely think with the headache. Meanwhile, DemiDevimon continued yammering. "So where do ya think we are, eh? Some kind ah prison, maybe. We shoul' be lookin' fer a way out, don't ya think, boss?"

Billy tried to think, to remember how he got here. Images flashed in his head. Lucemon, a purple sludge digimon called Raremon, and-

"Gabbie," Billy groaned. 'Where was she?' he wondered to himself.

"Da broad's righ' 'ere, boss," DemiDevimon motioned toward a nearby cot with a girl sleeping on it. At the foot of her bed was the ever watchful Dobermon. The dog's red eyes pierced Billy as they stared him down. Billy glared back. "What do ya wanna do abou' her, Billy?" DemiDevimon asked.

"Leave her be for now," he stated flatly. "Nobody is getting anywhere near her right now anyway with Dobermon there. C'mon." Billy stood up and observed the room. On one wall was a barred window. The false building that covered the castle could be seen off in the distance. It only just now occurred to Billy that he had no clue where the light was shining from.

The opposite wall had a plain looking door with a sliding panel for somebody on the outside to look into the room with. It was also then that Billy realized that his DigiBlade and his digivice were now missing, not that it really mattered anyway. The dark boy held out his hand and summoned the broadsword, which appeared in his grasp with a quick flash of light. He double checked to make sure that the digivice was still attached just as he always kept it. It was and he sheathed it back into the scabbard on his back.

"Gabbie's digivice might be a little tougher to reacquire," Billy said the DemiDevimon.

"Pesky humans," DemiDevimon said. "T'ings woul' be so much simpler if dey jus' carried their weapons aroun' like you do, boss. That way, they's always got their digivices and DigiBlades together, ain't that righ', boss?"

"Billy does that to intimidate his opponent," Dobermon spoke without looking at them. Instead, he crossed his paws in front of him and laid his head down with his eyes closed. "Gabbie and the others are different. They're humbler humans than he."

"Insufferable mutt!" DemiDevimon insulted, flying towards Dobermon. "Demi Dart!"

"Black Beam!" Dobermon's attack rang out through the air and hit DemiDevimon before he could attack. The small, winged digimon hit the opposite wall and fell to the ground.

"Why, I oughtta," the injured digimon threatened.

"Forget it, you two," Billy said as he moved to the window.

Gabbie started to stir now. She sat up and held her head, apparently the possessor of a splitting headache, same as Billy was. "Where are we?" she managed to groan.

"Held captive in the tower," Billy responded. "Summon your DigiBlade. We'll worry about your digivice later. At least your digimon is champion level by default. That might help if a fight ensues."

Gabbie held out her hand and summoned the khopesh, like she was told. "What are we going to do anyway? Like, how are we going to escape?"

"They've gotta bring us food sometime right?" Billy said. "Maybe we can jump them."

"And what if they don't feel the need to feed us?" Dobermon suggested. "Does anybody else remember what they had said earlier?"

"Abou' what, dog breath?" DemiDevimon said after flying up to rest on the opposite cot.

Dobermon growled but continued. "They said that they were going to save us for last and that they would kill us after they kill our friends. They had said something about a beacon."

"They're probably going to lure everybody somewhere with it and kill them all there," Billy agreed. "If we want to save them, we'll have to learn where that beacon will be placed and warn everybody before they find out on their own. Chances are that the demons will set up a better plan than lure and attack. They aren't stupid."

"How do you know all this about these guys Billy?" Gabbie asked. "The blonde digimon, Lucemon, recognized you too."

"It was before we met Gabs," Billy told her. "You've never met this woman, but I used to work for a digimon called LadyDevimon, and she was subordinate to Daemon. It is she who is responsible for this," Billy turned around and removed the scarf around his neck. Underneath the cloth was hidden a large Black Splinter half way protruding from his neck. Red veins arced out from the point of intrusion and raced all over the back of his neck, many seeming to go down his back, under his shoulder armor. He wrapped the scarf back around his neck, hiding the abhorred thing from view once again. "It is a special kind of Black Splinter called a Dark Shard. It is more powerful than the Black Splinters and as far as I know, it's the only one that was ever made, though Daemon may have more by now. It makes me stronger and smarter than other humans. Thanks to it, I surpass everybody. I am the next step in human evolution because of the Dark Shard."

"Is that why you're so angry all the time?" Gabbie asked.

"I have my own reasons for being angry," Billy stated flatly. "I will not be telling you any of them, so don't even ask. Anyway," Billy continued his story, "while in the service of LadyDevimon, she demanded that I find her a new lair. The demons had a floating castle. It was perfect for what we needed, so I attacked it and I forced them out of it. I never expected to see them again, honestly."

Suddenly, the floor shook and there was a loud explosion. Billy and Gabbie looked out the window and saw a large cloud beginning to dissipate. Something had blown a huge hole in the outside wall and light began to pour in through it.

"What's going on?" Dobermon asked.

"Something just blew a hole in the building that covers this castle," Billy informed the two digimon. He then ran over to the door and pried open the small cover so he could see out of it. He thought that he might see guards running frantically around, maybe somebody that he could get an answer from. Instead, the corridor beyond was completely empty except for an old man in a janitor's uniform mopping the floor and half humming, half singing a song.

The old janitor would spit out a couple words in between the humming. "Digimon... are the champions... digivolve to ultimate...digimon, digital monsters... digimon."

"Hey! Old Man!" Billy demanded. The janitor ignored him and just kept mopping. "Damnit, old man! What the hell is going on out there?"

The old man turned around and faced Billy now. "You really should be more polite to people, you know," Gennai told him.

"Oh no, not you," Billy groaned.

"That isn't the last explosion, boy," Gennai told him. "There is another one coming. You might want to cover yourself." He then tossed something to Billy through the small slot. "Oh, and you might need this too."

"Wait, what's going on?" Billy demanded, but he was talking to an empty hallway now. Gennai had disappeared again. He looked down into his hands. Gennai had tossed him Gabbie's digivice.

"Who are you talking to?" Gabbie asked.

"Never mind that," Billy barked. "We need to tip over these beds, right now! Go! Move, everybody!" Gabbie rushed over to Billy, who was already working on tipping one cot over. On the other side of the cell, Dobermon and DemiDevimon were toppling over the other cot.

Billy looked out the window as the others were moving the cots as far away from that side of the cell as possible. He could now see a missile rocketing in through the hole that the previous explosion made. Now that he could see it, he recognized the missile. It was gray and organic, with a mouth twisted into an awkward smile revealing a full row of jagged teeth. It was one of the missiles that only a MetalGreymon possesses.

"Brian," Billy muttered. "Never thought I'd owe my freedom to that crap Tamer." Billy then leaped behind the same cot that Gabbie was hiding behind just before the missile collided with the wall, blowing chunks of debris everywhere. The explosion was deafening and smoke began to fill the room.

* * *

* * *

XXX

"Alright scum, listen up!" Drill Sargent Etemon cried out to the assembled members from seven different cabins. Cabin D36 was among them, and they were the only team with a savage digimon. Snimon was kept in a large, solid box made of digizoid metal behind the group. Many Tamers kept looking back at the cell with fearful eyes. Austin seemed to be the only one who dared to get anywhere near the beast, as he sat in a relaxed, detached sort of way on top of the cage. Most other Tamers chose to ignore it, to put the fearsome creature out of their minds. Those Tamers focused completely on Etemon.

This was their ninth training session with Etemon. They happened twice a week and it usually consisted of simple things such as reflex, speed, and strength training with the occasional sparring in between. Eduardo's team had been in and out of the arena every other day since they arrived in the Digital World. Daemon seemed to be pushing their team harder than the others, and despite their continued victories, they were beginning to tire out.

Eduardo stood near the front of the group with his cabin mates, Alyssa and Amber. He stood there, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and waited for Etemon to continue.

"Today, I will be teaching you a brand new technique!" Etemon continued. "This special technique is the only way that you whelps can quickly achieve the ultimate level! To begin, I am going to need a couple of volunteers!"

Several of the group nervously raised their hands.

"What the hell is that?" Etemon asked. "Is this kindergarten? Put your blasted arms down! I've already got my demonstrators!" The digimon motioned towards two girls standing nearby, Daemon's personal generals. "These fine ladies are Sarah and Taylor, and their digimon partners, Witchmon and Liamon. Ready girls? Make ol' Etemon proud!"

"Shut your trap," Taylor commanded.

"Step aside, monkey," Sarah put in, pushing Etemon out of the way. "Witchmon!" she said to her partner. "Get over here!"

"Liamon!" Taylor commanded of her digimon.

"I wonder what they're gonna do?" Amber whispered to Eduardo.

"I'm not sure," he whispered back. "But they are Lord Daemon's chosen generals, so it's gotta be something good."

The two girls held out their digivices in front of them and their digimon began to glow with the light of digivolution, something that every Tamer there could recognize. What happened next was unexpected to most however. The two digimon fused together and became something else entirely. The entire crowd mumbled and gasped in surprise and shock.

"Everybody, this-" Taylor began.

"Is Persiamon." Sarah finished. "What we just did is called-"

"A DNA Digivolution. What happens is that-"

"When two people know each other well enough, their digimon can-"

"Fuse their energies to create a new digimon. Normally, it is very hard to-"

"Reach the ultimate level, but this shortcut allows us to do it-"

"Sooner than normal. Any questions?" Taylor finished.

"It's kinda creepy how they finish each other's sentences," Alyssa whispered. Eduardo nodded. "Kinda makes sense why they were able to figure this out though. No wonder these two are Daemon's generals."

"You there," Sarah pointed at Alyssa. "You clearly don't need us to explain any further. After all-"

"You are a member of the legendary cabin D36, aren't you?" Taylor clarified. "I'm sure that somebody like you could pull of this trick. Surely you already know how?"

Somebody from behind pushed Alyssa forward, causing her to stumble a little before straightening herself up again. "Sir, err, ma'am, err, general." Gladimon quickly ran over to his partner's side.

"Spit it out!" Taylor commanded.

"Well, I've never done anything like that before! My digimon is already champion level, same as the rest of the digimon in my cabin." Alyssa stammered. "Our digimon digivolved naturally."

"Will somebody from cabin D36-" Taylor said.

"Get your ass up here and join your teammate in this demonstration?" Sarah finished.

The crowd was silent as they stared at Alyssa, her embarrassment growing. "I'd better do it," Eduardo said to Amber. He and Dinohyumon stepped forward and stood by their friend's side. "I will help." He winked at her and she smiled at him.

"Very good," Sarah said. "Now, girlie," she spoke to Alyssa. "Since your talking in the middle of my demonstration proves that you already know how to do this little trick-"

"We will explain this for the boy's sake," Taylor continued. "Eduardo, correct? Well you certainly made a name for yourself in the arena battles but you will be nothing-"

"If you cannot do this trick. First off, know its name," Sarah told them. "In our world, we call it DNA Digivolving, and to digimon,-"

"It is called Joint Progressing, or Jogressing. In order to perform a Jogress digivolution,"

"You must know your DNA Digivolution partner very well." Sarah looked the two humans over. "Your digimon cannot become one-"

"If the two Tamers are not as one as well." Taylor narrowed her eyes at the two of them. "I don't think that the two of you have what it takes just yet. I hope you can prove me wrong."

The two Tamers from cabin D36 nodded at each other and held out their digivices. They concentrated as hard as they could on making their digimon become one. Eduardo began to think over everything he knew about Alyssa. Everything she had told him about her friends and her family. Her little brother and how he eats her colored pencils for school. Her dog and all the cool tricks he knows. He thought about how her friends at school used to do her hair for her and all the stories she told him about that.

Alyssa thought about everything that Eduardo had shared with her. He was an only child and had met Dinohyumon in the park. She remembered how he told her that a few friends of his had told him about a rumor of a group of kids who bet on monster fights at special arenas all over town. She giggled a little when she remembered Eduardo telling her how, despite his efforts to keep the digimon a secret in the park, he would often sneak into the school to find his partner and even started a food fight once.

Nothing happened.

"Just as I thought," Sarah concluded.

"There was no way you two could've possibly understood each other well enough to pull off a DNA Digivolution," Sarah taunted.

"Pathetic," Taylor insulted the two.

"Are all the Tamers in this army worthless?" Sarah called out to the crowd. "Doesn't anybody here know somebody well enough to perform a Jogress?"

Eduardo could hear murmurs throughout the crowd. People saying to their friends that "I hadn't known anybody outside the DigiBattle Arena" or things like "If a great team like that doesn't know each other that well, then how can we?"

The murmurs grew silent after a while and the crowd died down, everybody having decided that none of them could do it. "Very well then," Sarah said. "Persiamon will destroy a digimon-"

"Everyday until somebody can perform a Jogress." The two girls looked sternly at the crowd.

"Hey! You can't do that!" an older boy called out. "You can't just kill our digimon cus we can't do some stupid trick!"

"Persiamon, make an example," the two girls spoke in unison.

"Oh no you don't!" the boy cried. "Gargomon!"

A large green rabbit digimon wearing jeans stepped out from behind the boy and held up the Gatling guns attached to his arms. "Bunny Blaster!"

"Not so fast," the girls replied in unison again.

Persiamon simply waved her hand and the incoming attacked disappeared, brushed away as if it was nothing. Then, quicker than the blink of an eye, her foot had been thrust through Gargomon. The digimon stood there for a moment, completely paralyzed by the pain of the gaping hole in his chest. The boy fell to his knees as he watched his digimon dissolve into data before his very eyes. "I'm sorry, Liam," Gargomon said before being totally dissolved.

The girls began speaking in unison again as Persiamon curled into a ball and fell asleep at their feet. "Our ultimate level digimon is more powerful than any or your champion level digimon. There are two entities working as one in that body. They have faster reflexes, and twice the brain power than a regular ultimate. You digimon will crumble to the might of ours until one of you can Jogress. Who here can even hope to challenge us?"

Amber couldn't take anymore. She stepped forward to stand by Alyssa and Eduardo and spoke, "I can! I won't let you kill anymore digimon! I know somebody whom I can DNA Digivolve with!"

More whispers and murmurs erupted from the crowd. "Oh? Well isn't this a surprise," Taylor said.

"Another Tamer from D36?" Sarah commented. "How intriguing. Who is it that you believe that you can Jogress with, girl?"

"The only person I know well enough," Amber hesitated for a moment. "Is Austin."

* * *

* * *

XXX

Piedmon leaned back in his chair and observed the computer monitors. He had just watched his recording of Brian's fight against MadLeomon for the third time. "Impressive girl," the clown digimon commended. "She has some innate powers that the others do not possess. How very interesting. And the boy was able to fight without using the darkness in his heart. He will soon be engulfed by his own grief however. They always do."

"Are you having fun, Piedmon?" Daemon asked as he walked in.

"Oh, I most certainly am!" he giggled back. "It's like a game of chess! Oh, how I love chess! Look here," Piedmon pointed at the screen depicting Tyler and Peter. "There! There you see a bishop and a pawn! And these two," he pointed at the screen showing Christina and Duane. "are a bishop and rook!" He moved his finger to indicate the screen with Billy and Gabbie. "And here we see a knight and another rook! And this one, this one really interests me," he motioned to Brian and Hope. "This is a knight desperately trying to protect his queen." He frowned. "You know what she is don't you?"

"She is the Light, Piedmon. She is the Key. I need her alive," Daemon looked at Piedmon. "You should've just kept them when you had them."

"Oh they are yours for the taking my master," Piedmon told him. "This island is a prison. All of our enemies are here, trapped, you see. Nobody can escape either, for MetalSeadramon patrols the waters. We are currently working on bringing them all back together at one convenient location, just for your highness, Lord Daemon!"

"I am tired of your games, Piedmon!" Daemon snapped. "You have had your fun with the humans, now kill them and capture the girl!" Daemon turned to leave.

"Wait! There is one more thing you should see," Piedmon picked up his remote and rewound the videotape of the MadLeomon battle. When he stopped, it showed Brian, Agumon, and Gatomon walking through the dense forest. Distantly behind them, could be seen the image of a black haired girl with a purple shirt and a denim skirt. "Do you see her?"

"No, it can't be," Daemon said. "Well this is indeed interesting isn't it, Piedmon? I wonder what a small girl like Lily is doing here."

"Shes been following Brian since he got back to the digital world, my lord."

"Interesting," Daemon chuckled. "I wonder what she has planned for the boy?"

* * *

* * *

XXX

"DemiDevimon, digivolve to-!" the digimon cried. Devimon the floated over to the newly created hole in the wall. After dusting himself off, Billy helped Gabbie stand up again and the two humans and Dobermon joined Devimon.

"Good, we aren't too high up," Billy commented. "Devimon should be able to carry all of us in one trip." With Gabbie and Billy held in one arm, and Dobermon held in his other arm, Devimon flew them out of the hole and down to the ground

"The prisoners are escaping!" somebody yelled. "Somebody stop them!"

"We gotta go!" Billy yelled. "We're gonna have to run from here! Devimon won't be able to carry all of us to the exit!"

"Wait, what about my digivice?" Gabbie demanded.

"Here!" he tossed her the digivice. "Now let's move!"

"How did you-"

"Never mind that! It isn't important right now!" Billy had begun to run towards the hole in the outer wall with Devimon silently flying over his shoulder. Gabbie and Dobermon quickly ran after them. As always, Dobermon slowed his pace to stay with Gabbie and protect her.

Digimon were now swarming out of the castle. Demon digimon of all kinds were taking flight and running after them from behind. Many of them were shooting attacks into the Tamer's direction. They dodged what attacks they could, or their partners deflected other attacks with some of their own.

The digimon were bridging the gap faster and faster. Soon, the demons were right on their heels. When they finally reached the outer wall, the enemy digimon had surrounded them.

"Devimon, I'll hold off these digimon with Dobermon. You take Gabbie through the opening, then come back for her partner." With DigiBlade in hand, Billy began hacking away at the digimon in front of him.

"You heard him, Gabbie," a calm, powerful voice spoke from behind her. "Come now, we must hurry!"

Gabbie turned around to see a holy angel digimon. Angemon now floated where Devimon had once been. It was then that she knew that things would be okay. It also gave her proof of something she had known about the dark boy all along. "What about Billy?" Gabbie asked the digimon. She knew things would be okay, but she was still worried about the dark boy.

"Billy is doing something completely selfless right now, Gabbie. He is fighting so that you may escape. We must go now if you want to honor his sacrifice!"

Gabbie looked over at Billy as he was swarmed with demon digimon. Troopmon, IceDevimon, Vilemon, and Boogeymon all swarmed around Billy, trying to get at him. Many digimon fell to his blade, disintegrating into data, but they were closing in on him. Dobermon was in a similar situation, his Black Beam attack plowed through many digimon and his Gray Noise attack froze their data and helped to hold a lot of the demons back for a short time.

"Do not worry, Gabbie," Angemon told her. "I will protect them. Hand of Fate!" A holy light sprang forth from Angemon's outstretched fist, annihilating a large portion of the demon's ranks. "Come now Gabbie, we must go."

Gabbie nodded and allowed Angemon to lift her up into the air. He flew her into the sky and through the hole in the wall and landed her safely into the streets below. "I will be right back, okay?" he told her. "I will help fight off more of the demons before returning with Dobermon."

Gabbie nodded back to him as the angel digimon flew through the wall again.

* * *

* * *

XXX

Everybody turned to look at Austin, who was still only half paying attention to what was going on. The crowd knew that Austin was one of the best from the DigiBattle arenas in the human world and in the Digital World. Nobody had ever heard of this girl before cabin D36 started making a name for themselves, but even then their victories were credited to Austin and Eduardo more than Alyssa and Amber. Amber was a nobody. How could she possibly know Austin?

Awkward glances shifted back and forth between the two Tamers. Austin sat up and leaped down from Snimon's metal cage. The crowd parted before him, creating a path for him to walk forward to the front of the crowd. "So, you think that you can just use me to help you save these kids' digimon, eh?" Austin asked Amber. "Fine, I'll help you this time, Amber. But you owe me next time."

"Thank you, Austin," she said, sounding ashamed of herself. She donned a more serious face and pulled out her digivice. "Are you ready, Stingmon?"

"Yes I think so, though I do not relish being blended with that beast," Stingmon glanced over to Snimon's cage. A loud thud was heard as a dent was popped out of the metal. Snimon wanted out.

"I know, I'm sorry Stingmon," Amber apologized. "But we have to do this for the other Tamers."

"Open the cage!" Austin yelled. A few fearful tamers did as he asked, tentatively released the heavy locks and the gate fell to the ground. Dust shot out from beneath the metal plate when it hit the ground and Snimon walked out into the light. Immediately, Austin pointed his digivice at his partner and the light whip wrapped around the digimon's neck. "Settle down!" Austin yelled.

Snimon roared and tugged against the energy whip holding him, but Snimon couldn't break the power of the digivice and was instead pulled to the ground.

"Amber," Eduardo said quietly. "Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, Alyssa and I can try again."

"No, there's no way you two can do it yet,"Amber replied. "I know Austin better than anybody else. He and I can do it."

"You don't have to though," Alyssa told her.

"Yes, I do," the other girl replied. "If not, then they'll keep killing digimon."

"How interesting," Sarah commented.

"Indeed," Taylor agreed. "An intelligent digimon-"

"Jogressing with a Savage Class digimon. Interesting..."

"I wish they'd stop talking like that," Eduardo groaned.

"Okay, Austin," Amber said. "I'm ready." She held out her digivice towards Austin, who did the same.

This time, the two digivices began to glow and the two digimon were engulfed in the light of digivolution. A light connected the two digimon, funneling their energies into a ball of light in the center. As the center light grew larger and larger, the other two grew smaller. Soon the fused digimon began to take form. The new digimon was man shaped, like Stingmon, but it was taller, and bulkier.

When the light had grown dim, the onlookers could now see the form that the fusion had taken. The digimon had green armor with gauntlets that appeared to resemble pincers. In his hands he held a large spear with a red star on the end. He stood tall and proud. "Our name is Jewelbeemon," the creature half spoke, half snarled. There were two voices being spoken at the same time.

"Very impressive," Taylor complimented the two.

"You have successfully pulled off a DNA digivolution," Sarah said.

"Stingmon?" Amber asked the new digimon. "Are you still in there?"

"We are both here," the digimon responded in the double voice. "And we will destroy all of you!" The digimon threw his arms up into the air and roared in anger. "No! We will not!" the digimon said again, calming down now. "We apologize, Amber. There is much anger inside of us."

* * *

* * *

XXX

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon yelled again. The light shot forth from his fist, causing the destruction of several more demon digimon. Billy sliced his sword through three more digimon, all of which were destroyed. He blocked an attack from behind and pierced that digimon in the chest before kicking the face of a digimon trying to flank him.

"Get the mutt to safety too!" Billy yelled to his holy digimon. His next attack was parried and countered. The demon's claws scraped against Billy's shoulder armor, causing sparks to fly. The dark boy beheaded the digimon who had dissolved before its head hit the ground.

Dobermon swiped at a demon with his fearsome claws and then sank his teeth into the shoulder of another, nearly tearing the digimon's arm off. One of the enemy digimon, a Vilemon, lifted Dobermon over his head and tried to crush him. "Black Beam!" Dobermon's attack went straight through the digimon's head and the canine hit the ground hard. Recovering as quickly as possible, Dobermon began assaulting more enemies, tearing through them with his teeth and claws. Whatever digimon were not destroyed were left as a mangled heap of useless mass, crying and begging for mercy before the horde of demons crushed them.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon yelled, clearing another path of virus type digimon. Another Hand of Fate attack cleared the areas around both Billy and Dobermon, freeing them from the claustrophobic swarm for a few precious moments.

"Now, Angemon! Take the mutt now!" Billy yelled.

Angemon quickly flew over and grabbed Dobermon around the waist. "Let's get out of here now!" Angemon told the other digimon.

"You'd better protect her until your dying breath, mutt!" Billy yelled after them. There was a sudden boom as one of the castled walls blew outward, sending debris into the crowd. All of the demons stopped to see what was going on. Lucemon casually walked out through the open hole, and behind him came Raremon slowly oozing out. Billy saw the digimon and knew that he no longer had time. "Do you hear me, mutt? To your dying breath!" he yelled as the rest of the demons overtook him.

As Angemon flew through the outer wall, there was an explosion behind him. Dobermon flew from his hands and Angemon dedigivolved to DemiDevimon, both landing nearby Gabbie. The purple, oozing flesh that comprised Raremon quickly filled the hold behind them.

Dobermon grunted as he stood up. "Gabbie, we gotta leave now. They'll be coming for us if we don't get out of this city."

"But what about Billy?" Gabbie cried. "He said he'd be right back! He told Angemon to go back for him! We can't leave him back there!"

DemiDevimon weakly sat up on one wing, obviously in great pain. "Ya dumb broad," he grunted at her. "He just stayed behind so's that way yous coul' get away. I's like you's don' know 'im at all. Billy don't go doin' stuffs like tha' unless d'ere was a good reason. So you's better be getting' us da hell oughtta here, y'hear? Go! Now!"

Gabbie nodded, picked up the injured digimon in her arms, and she and Dobermon began to run as fast as they could as a group.


	47. Love Hurts

It was amazing how much the sun could beat them down. More so than any digimon they had fought, it was the sun that had done the most damage to Duane, Christina, and their digimon. It weakened them and made them want to give up. They had hoped that the heat might cool off as the day wore on, but the sun only hit them harder as they walked up the side of the volcano, towards the signal they had picked up on their digivices.

"It sure is nice to be able to go at our own pace," Christina said out of the blue. The heat had discouraged them from talking much, so it had been rather quiet. Duane lifted his head and looked at her. "You know, with Brian leading us, he just keeps pushing. We've always gotta get to where we're going and we gotta get there quickly."

"Yeah you're right," Duane agreed with her. "It's really nice to be able to relax and take it easy! What do you think, Leomon? Lunamon?"

"Duane, you are the Tamer," Leomon stated flatly, resting his elbows on his sheath behind him as he walked. "I will follow you in whatever means you deem best. I will fight in anyway you tell me, and I will walk however quickly you'd like. The choice is yours."

"So long as I can nap, you can walk however quickly you would like," Lunamon said sleepily from atop Christina's head.

"Wow," Duane said. "Thank you guys. I sometimes forget how much you look up to us."

"Why do you do that?" Christina asked. "Look up to us, I mean?"

"We fight to protect you children," Leomon said. "I don't quite understand it, but I feel that you are the ones who will save the digital world. You human children will somehow do what we digimon cannot do. I feel this in the deepest part of my digicore."

"I don't know why you think that," Christina said.

"Yeah," Duane agreed. "After all, you guys do all of the fighting. It's starting to be big time stuff now. The digimon we fight are getting stronger and stronger. I don't know how much longer we can still be helpful in a fight." He bowed his head in shame.

Leomon stopped walking and knelt down in front of Duane, placing his large clawed hands on the boy's shoulders. "You will always be able to help us in a fight. We cannot fight without you. You humans are our purpose and our weapon. Our shield and our sword. Your body may be that of a human, but your hearts are that of lions! Your digicore is stronger than that of most digimon I have met!"

The lion digimon stared into Duane's eyes, and he stared back. They locked their gazes on each other, saying things with that gaze that could only be understood by a Tamer and his partner.

Christina walked over and stood beside them, not wanting to interrupt, but curious about one thing. "Leomon," she said hesitantly.

Leomon stood up and looked to the girl. "Yes. Christina? What is it?"

"You keep using that word digicore. What is it?"

"A digicore is the very center of a digimon," Leomon explained. "It is where our data is processed and configured. It forms everything about us from the way we look to our personalities. It is where we keep our programming scripts and where our thoughts take place. When a digimon dies, they don't stay dead. A digimon's digicore stores the data and reconfigures it at Primary Village after they are killed."

"So, we won't ever have to worry about you losing a fight?" Christina asked.

"What about all the digimon we defeated already?" Duane asked. "You mean to tell me that all of our enemies are out there again? Our nightmares are just going to keep being reborn in this never ending cycle?"

"I will answer Christina first," Leomon told them. "Since the Digital Wastes began expanding, I am no longer certain if Primary Village still exists. I no longer know what exactly happens to a digimon when they die now. Perhaps they are gone forever. Perhaps their data floats in limbo until the village is back. Or maybe there is a new Primary Village out there somewhere. I cannot say because I have not completed a life cycle in some time," the great digimon spoke solemnly. "As for Duane's question, a digimon loses his memories after being reborn. Sometimes the digimon might retain flashes of memories, distant dreams of a past life, barely understandable or recognizable. It's just enough of a memory to taunt but never enough to reclaim, but with the memories gone, the digimon has a fresh start at a second chance. The digimon is, in effect, purified. Digimon who repeatedly turn evil after numerous cycles are deemed to have irreparable damage to their programming and are quarantined in the Dark Area, a space of total darkness parallel to the digital world."

"And there really is no way to completely destroy a digimon?" Duane asked.

"There is," Leomon replied sadly. "I hope that you humans never have to resort to such a cold and ruthless course of action as being forced to completely destroy a digimon, but if you ever do have to, you must break the digicore. Deal enough damage to the digicore and the digimon cannot repair its data loss. It will be impossible to be reborn after that much data loss. The digimon will cease to exist."

"Duane, we can't ever do that," Christina pleaded him. "Please lets keep this to ourselves. Let's not tell the others. You know how Brian can be. If he thinks that there is no other option, he'd do it."

Duane thought for a moment. "Yeah, you're right," he agreed. "The others must not be told about the digicores."

XXX

Jewelbeemon swung his hand at some of the nearby Tamers and their partners, knocking a few of them down or tumbling into other kids and digimon. He roared loudly into the air as his two personalities were conflicting. "Amber!" the creature yelled. "We do not know how long we can hold this form. Our desires are tearing us apart! Half of me wants nothing more the to feast on all of your bodies and bathe in your blood!"

Amber took a step back, unsure of what to do. Her partner was in pain now because of this fusion. Her partner was teetering on the brink of destroying everything here and it seemed as if nobody could stop it.

"Amber, say something to him!" Eduardo told her. "You can get through to him!"

Amber shook her head and took another step back. Disgruntled, Eduardo ran and stopped in front of Jewelbeemon. "You've gotta fight it, Jewelbeemon!" Eduardo cried. Amber and Alyssa looked at him in wonder as he stood unafraid in front the digimon's path with his arms outstretched. "You might be part Snimon, but you're still Stingmon!"

Alyssa was made a move to join him, but Dinohyumon stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. He shook his head when she looked at her and he said, "You stay here. No point getting more hurt. One hurt enough. You no get hurt too."

"How can you say that?" Alyssa asked. "You're his partner! You're supposed to protect him!"

"Eduardo want do this on own. I can tell in eyes. Eduardo really want Amber do it. Amber no do so Eduardo do." Dinohyumon said in his broken English. "No place for Alyssa's do."Alyssa understood and nodded her agreement.

"C'mon Jewelbeemon! Do it! Fight! Calm down!" Eduardo yelled more.

"You are pissing us off, human!" Jewelbeemon yelled, raising his spear above his head. The digimon swung the weapon downward and Eduardo flinched. When he didn't feel any pain, Eduardo opened his eyes again and saw Jewelbeemon grabbing at a beam of light wrapped around his neck, trying to get it off.

"Down!" Austin yelled as he pulled on the light whip, forcing the digimon to his knees. "I shouldn't have to keep telling you that I am the Tamer! You attack when I tell you to attack! Not before!"

Data flowed away from Jewelbeemon as he separated into the two champion levels, Stingmon and Snimon. Austin quickly wrapped the light whip around Snimon's neck again and forced him into the metal cage. Tamers and their partners were standing on top of the metal box holding ropes attached to the cage gate. Pulling as hard as they could, their group effort was able to pull the gate back up and latch it, preventing Snimon from escaping. When he was done and certain that the Savage Class digimon would stay put, Austin sat on the ground and leaned against the cage, once again ignoring the world.

"Not too bad for a first try," Sarah commented.

"Indeed," Taylor agreed. "You got them to stay whole for exactly four minutes and thirty seven seconds."

"But, you will have to do better-"

"If you want to keep rising. There is no room-"

"In Daemon's Army-"

"For washouts and useless Tamers."

"This training session is now-"

"Dismissed. All Tamers are to report back to their cabins for rest."

XXX

Duane couldn't get the digicores off of his mind. The thought of their power and what it meant to destroy one was solidified at the forefront of his thoughts, impossible to erase from his head. The quietness and solemn look that Christina wore told Duane that she was thinking the same things as he. He turned back to his own thoughts. It was unusual how heavy the digicores weighed on his consciousness, despite the fact that he had never seen one of heard of them until today.

Desperate to get his mind off of these things, Duane tried to start up a conversation. He opened his mouth but didn't know what he would say. "I wish Tyler was here," was the first thing that came out of Duane's mouth. He mentally kicked himself when he saw the sad look on Christina's face. Tyler had been on his mind a lot lately, but he hadn't meant to say anything and upset Christina. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I shouldn't have said that."

They continued to walk in silence for a few more minutes before Christina replied, "We can talk about him, if you'd like. I don't mind."

Unsure of how exactly to approach the subject, Duane simply opened his mouth again, hoping that something at least halfway sensitive and intelligent would come out. "So, he's pretty evil now, eh?" was neither sensitive nor intelligent.

"Yeah, I suppose so," Christina replied quietly.

Leomon was visibly resisting the urge to hit Duane and even Lunamon arose from her slumber atop her Tamer's head in order to glare at the boy. "Well, what I meant was-" Duane stammered.

"Duane it's fine!" Christina told him cheerfully, cocking her head slightly to one side. "What do you say we talk about when we all lived in Oregon?"

"Yeah." Duane said back. He wasn't sure if her change in emotion was a facade or not, but he didn't question it directly. "Yeah! Let's do that! Um, where do we start?"

"Well, um, how about we both talk about our favorite memory with Tyler?" Christina suggested. "You go first!"

"Well, okay then," Duane thought for a moment. "Well I remember how Tyler and I would always sword fight with sticks in the back yard at his house for hours. We gave each other a lot of bruises and then just laughed it off afterward."

Christina laughed. "Yeah, back in the day when the only epic battles we had to deal with involved wooden swords. We used to go to the store and grab something to drink and some food at the deli and then eat it out by the street, just watching the cars go by. It was fun. I miss hanging out with the both of you too! I had the greatest laughs! Like, remember the time Tyler cut himself with a spatula trying to himself some ice cream!"

Leomon glanced down at Christina with a straight face and said, "Seems legit." Duane fell over laughing.

"Christina, I've seen you get ice cream for us before," Lunamon yawned. "I don't remember there ever being any threat of cutting yourself on a spatula."

"Well, he couldn't find a spoon," Duane explained when his laughter died. He got back up and the group continued to walk. "So, naturally, he used the next best thing, I guess. Tyler is like that though. If he doesn't have the right tools, he'll get it done anyway. Somehow he just does. He's really reliable that way."

"After he'd bandaged himself up, he laughed while eating his ice cream and watching cartoons." Christina smiled at the mental image in her head as she spoke. "I suppose he isn't as eccentric anymore now that he's all evil and stuff. Why doesn't he see that being with Billy is the wrong side?"

"Billy must've done something to him and Brian's brother to make them side with him," Duane reasoned. "I can't think of any other reason for him to go against his morals otherwise," Duane reasoned. "He wants to be a detective someday, remember?"

"Yeah," Christina said. "I always admired that about him. How he had this moral code and wouldn't cross it and that evil should be behind bars."

Duane stopped walking and looked through the sparsely paced pine trees that surrounded them all. The others continued walking for a few steps before realizing Duane stopped. They looked at him, curious as to what he'd say.

"You know what?" Duane asked his friends. They waited anxiously for him to continue. "I'm kinda hungry."

Leomon shook his head a the other two slumped over in exasperation. Suddenly, Duane saw a blur of motion and a pain in his stomach just before something pinned him against a nearby pine tree.

XXX

The Tamers and their digimon began filing out of the training zone as a new batch of trainees flowed in. For Eduardo, the walk back to the cabin was too long. He was tired from the days events and he wanted nothing more than to leave the place were so much pain was seen. At least when Eduardo dreamed, he was back home with his parents. They weren't always around, but in his dreams they were there and he missed them. Eduardo guessed that nearly all the Tamers in Daemon's Army missed their family to some degree.

In the many battles that Cabin D36 were called to do in the Arena, Eduardo had done as Austin requested and he stayed out of the way. Not because of Austin's threat, but because there were few Savage Class digimon left in the army after Daemon's initial weeding out during the first week. Eduardo didn't actually need to do a whole lot when Austin's partner went berserk.

Half of all the teams with Savage digimon were now gone, and since then digimon were not allowed to be killed in the arena battles. He needs digimon to have an army, and he needs Tamers in order to control the digimon more effectively.

Eduardo had laid in his bed several nights and tried to understand Daemon. Who was this digimon? What was his goal? Why does he need an army? Who is his enemy? Deciding that there was no way he could know any of those things without more information, Eduardo thought of why Daemon would want to pick off half of his most powerful troops within the first week, and then pick off half of the rest in the next week. Tonight was one such night were he turned his thoughts to Daemon.

"Alright, lets run this down again," Eduardo spoke to himself. "Week one: Daemon pits all of the strongest digimon against each other in a battle to the death. Most cabins are kept apart from each other and talking to people outside of your cabin is punishable. Why? To keep the Tamers in the dark maybe? I suppose that we wouldn't be able to pass along information along to each other... but whats he afraid of? Us figuring out what he's doing? I'm off topic now." Eduardo thought for a moment to get back to his original thought process. "Right, the first week. So, why were we killing each other? Especially if he needs an army? How big is this army anyway?"

"What're you mumbling about, Ed?" Eduardo heard Alyssa's voice whispering in his ear.

Eduardo opened his eyes and looked over to his cabin-mate. She was shrouded in the darkness of the cabin but he could tell it was Alyssa. "Oh, I was just thinking things through is all," he whispered back.

She pushed him aside and laid down on the cot next to him. "What sort of things?"

"Just this whole Daemon's Army thing. Hey, why aren't you asleep yet?" he asked puzzled. He could hear the snoring of ever other member of their cabin, human and digimon.

"Thinkin', same as you," she replied girlishly.

"Oh I see."

"Well, aren't you curious?"

"About what?"

"What I was thinking about, of course!" the girl said incredulously.

"Oh, yeah, sure." He mumbled back. "Yeah, what were you thinking?"

"I was wondering about Amber and Austin actually," she sighed. "we've all been together the same amount of time right? Why do those two know each other so well? Austin mostly keeps to himself anyway. Think we would've noticed if those two were hanging out a lot."

"Yeah, I suppose."

"Let's do it!" She said, almost loud enough to wake up the others.

"Do... what exactly?" Eduardo hesitated.

"Learn about each other!" She said, quieter this time. "We need to figure out why we couldn't DNA digivolve with each other. What is it we were missing?"

"I'm not sure. I thought of everything I knew about you."

"Yeah, me too." Alyssa frowned. "Maybe I'll talk to Amber tomorrow sometime and maybe she can tell me."

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea."

"But in the meantime, why don't you tell me more about yourself?"

"What's there to tell?" Eduardo asked. "I've already told you about my family and Dinohyumon. School and friends. Homework and just about everything else.

"Yeah I guess there's nothing more to know." She sounded a bit disappointed. "Well I'll try to go get some sleep then," she smiled. "Good night, Ed." Alyssa got off the cot and went back to her own cot. Eduardo thought about the things she said before drifting off to sleep himself.

XXX

"I've never seen a human before!" The great ogre said to Duane as she had him pinned to a tree. "The last time humans came to the Digital World, I searched high and low to see one! And now I've got you!"

"Leomon!" Duane cried out.

Leomon pulled out his sword and charged at the new digimon. The woman allowed Duane to drop to the ground and her club met with Leomon's sword with a heavy clang. "Leave the boy alone!" the beastly lion roared.

"Oh, I see how it is!" the woman ogre exclaimed. "You want him for yourself! Well you can't have him! I saw him first! Keep away from my man!"

Duane quickly scurried away from the fight as both digimon were quite a bit taller than he was and could probably trample him to death. He crawled back to the relative safety of Christina and Lunamon. "This digimon is insane!" he told his friends.

"He's already my Tamer!" Leomon replied back to the woman.

"And what a cute Tamer you have!" she complimented as she smacked Leomon's side with her club.

Leomon fell to the ground, knocked aside by his opponent's strength. "Cute?" he tried to stand but couldn't.

"Well, yeah," the digimon replied. "He's absolutely adorable!" Duane could almost see the hearts in her eyes as she stared at him dreamily.

"Um," Duane wasn't sure how to respond to this.

"Wait, you mean Duane?" Christina was taken aback. "This kid right here? You think is cute?"

"Oh he's positively gorgeous!" she said as she picked Duane up and embraced him in a back breaking hug. She held him out in front of her, his legs dangling above the ground. Her face was completely straight and serious as she said, "I think I love him." Christina and Lunamon nearly fell over from shock.

"Whoa there!" Duane cried. "We should really go on a few dates first! I mean, you can't just fall in love with somebody that you saw in the woods! I don't even know your name!"

"Ah! Silly me!" She dropped Duane and turned around hitting her head with her fist. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," she mumbled over and over. She turned back around, throwing her fist in the air as she yelled, "My name is Kinkakumon! Now come hither, sweetheart!" she said to Duane, extending an open hand to him. "Let us go forth onto our first date!"

"Well, see, as much as I would love to do that, I'm a little busy right now," Duane replied as he backed away on his hands.

"We kind of need Duane right now," Christina told Kinkakumon.

"I need him more than you!" the digimon yelled back. She raised her club and hit Duane with it. "Tell me you love me!" she hit him again. "Say it! Say you love me! I need to hear it sweetheart!"

"Stop it!" Christina yelled.

"You're hurting him!" Lunamon said.

Finally being able to get up, Leomon pulled his sword around Kinkakumon and pressed the blade against her neck. "You will now drop your club, and leave here. You will forget about your silly "love" you have for Duane and we will never see you again. Do you understand me?" Leomon was baring his teeth and his voice was almost a snarl.

"Very well." Kinkakumon's club hit the ground and Leomon lowered his sword. After Leomon had taken a couple steps back, the ogre digimon quickly grabbed her club and leaped several feet away from the group. "I see now that I must take my love from you! The three of you stand between Duane and I and the love we share! Kibakusou!" She swung her club over her head and the mighty weapon crashed into the ground, causing tremors to erupt from the impact point. Soon, the ground between Kinkakumon and the others began to crumble away.

"Duane! Christina! Run!" Leomon yelled. Christina scooped Lunamon into her arms and she, Duane, and Leomon ran away from the crumbling earth. Trees, brush, and dirt were all swallowed into the massive black hole. When the rumbling stopped, the Tamers and their partners turned around to see a huge fault, far too wide for any of the present digimon to leap over. It stretched for miles in both directions. They could see Kinkakumon on the other side.

"No! Duane, my love!" she yelled over to them. "I promise you that I will one day save you from these people! You and I will be together!"

Ignoring her, Christina looked at her digivice. "Great, we're on the wrong side of the fault," she said. "The signal is over there!"

"Well, I guess we'll just have to follow the fault around the mountain until we can cross," Leomon shrugged.

"That could take forever though," Duane slumped over.

"Well, it could be the others," Lunamon reasoned. "I think it's still worth checking out."

"I agree," Leomon said. "Now we just have to figure out how to ditch lover girl over there. She's likely to follow us from that side of the fault."

"Leomon," Duane said. "She scares me."

XXX


	48. Reunited

Author's note: Sorry for such a long wait for this chapter! I've been really busy with school and moving around a lot and it just hasn't been easy to keep writing. Enjoy this chapter though!

XXX

With a powerful, angry Groundramon ahead of them, it seemed as if there was no escape. The Peter, Tyler and their digimon were too weak to fight due to their long treks throughout the head of the arid wasteland. What could be done against this behemoth of a digimon of which was far too powerful for them to handle?

Groundramon threw one of his mighty fists toward Tyler. Meramon pushed his partner aside and took the punch full in the chest, sending the fiery digimon reeling into the wall of the cavern. Light engulfed the digimon's body and it was DemiMeramon who the ground, out cold. Dorumon attempted a charge at Groundramon, putting his head down and preparing to use his thick skull against the opponent. Groundramon, while have a slow moving body, his mighty fists are quick and struck the small dinosaur down before he reached halfway.

"Shit," Tyler mumbled as he stood back up, realizing there was no hope for them this time. Groundramon roared his displeasure at their presence.

"Wait! Look up there, Tyler!" Peter cried, pointing at the opening they had fallen down. Above them was the cartoonish Doggymon stretching his elastic arms down into the hole. Before Groundramon could react, Doggymon had already wrapped his arms around Groundramon, binding him down and keeping him from moving. "Lets climb up his arms!" Peter yelled at Tyler.

Tyler and Peter grabber their partners and made their way towards Groundramon. As the mighty earth dragon struggled against the elasticity of Doggymon's arms, they had begun their climb upwards. Fearing he couldn't hold onto the dragon anymore, Doggymon released him and grabbed the Tamers and pulled them all the way back up into the sunlight.

"Air!" Peter cried. "Sweet beautiful air! I thought I would never feel it again!"

Tyler began nursing his poor digimon back, hating himself for letting them get stuck in that situation at all. "We should get away from here before we get into anymore trouble."

Doggymon was approaching Peter with a colorfully wrapped present. He set it down near the boy, who ecstatically took it and began unwrapping it.

"No, Peter! Don't open that!" Tyler yelled, but was too late. Peter had already revealed the trick inside, a small cannon aimed directly at Peter's face. The cannon's fuse ran out and ink shot out, covering Peter in the dark blue liquid.

"Why you little..." Peter said, looking angrily at Doggymon. He got back to his feet and began chasing after the dog. "I'm going to eat you! I'm going to fry you up and eat you! Make a sandwich out of you! Or steak! Or soup! I don't know yet but I'll get you! And eat you!" He continued to chase after the digimon, who was laughing emphatically the entire time, until the ground began to shake and rumble.

Beneath them, cracks in the earth began to appear and two large green arms sprouted out of the ground, probing for the Tamers. Thinking as quickly as he could, Doggymon grabbed hold of the Tamers and their digimon and then used his own body to set up a slingshot around Groundramon's arms.

With as must gusto as Doggymon could muster, he flung himself, the Tamers, and the two hurt digimon into the air. They soared far and high. Peter and Tyler shrieked in fear the entire way and Doggymon chuckled behind his hand at their misery. Eventually, they group landed safely in a forest on the side of the mountain, far in the distance. They had landed in a large bush which cushioned their fall.

"Well that was... lucky I suppose," Tyler mumbled over Peter's continued shrieks of fear. "Peter! Calm down! We've landed and we're safe now."

Peter stopped screaming for a moment and went limp. He lay there for a long while, breathing heavily. Tyler looked around and made sure the digimon were safe. They too had landed safely in the bushes nearby. Doggymon continued laughing at them.

The forest around them had wide spaced pine trees. The ground was a mix a fine dirt and pine needles.

Meanwhile, their digivices had began beeping. They had picked up a signal.

XXX

That night Brian, Agumon, Hope, and Gatomon had reached the top of the mountain. The sky had darkened by now, the pink and orange sunset had long since disappeared. The Tamers crouched behind a large shrub silently discussing how to proceed.

"We should just jump out and surprise whatever is on the other side," Brian whispered.

"Moron," Hope insulted. "It's a signal. Probably a machine. Not something you simply 'surprise'."

"What if it's something holding a machine that's giving off the signal? Maybe this is its home."

"All the more reason to proceed cautiously!" Hope was beginning to lose her temper with Brian again. His recklessness aggravated her tremendously. She took a deep breath and continued, "Let's at least take a peak before we just jump headfirst into danger, okay?"

"Alright, fine. I suppose that's a good idea," Brian said as he gently moved the shrubs out of his way.

"Sheesh, I have no idea how you survived the Wastes for so long before finding me," She grumbled back.

The Tamers peered through the shrubs and scanned the area for whatever might be causing the signal they had picked up. It was dark. Their eyes were having a hard time adjusting still, as they had spent most of the night using the digivices for light and only shut them off as they approached the signal's source.

"There!" Hope whispered sharply. "I see the thing!"

Brian had spotted it too. It was a dark shape, boxy and about waist-height, but he couldn't make out any more than that. "What is it?" he asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we should check it out?" Hope suggested.

I without missing a beat, Brian and Agumon stood up and started walking towards the box. "Hey! Careful!" Hope said, also standing with Gatomon and following him. "We don't have a clue what it is, remember?"

Brian put his hands on the box. It was made of cool, white metal and buzzed beneath his skin. "I haven't got a clue what this is," he spoke slowly and quietly. Hope and the digimon joined his side. She also placed her hands on the machine and felt the buzz. She felt her hands over the surface until her fingers located a console. Buttons could be felt along the top as well as a digivice shaped indentation.

"That's weird," Hope declared as she pulled out her digivice. "A digivice could fit here. Think we should try it?"

Brian was about to agree with her when they heard a sudden ruffling of the shrubbery around them. "Who's there?" Brian called out, turning the light on his digivice in the direction of the sound. "Show yourself!"

"Brian?" a boy's voice called back.

"Peter?" Peter and Tyler emerged from the darkness, Dorumon and the fiery DemiMeramon followed closely behind. "Just my luck to run into you." Peter and Tyler both summoned their DigiBlades.

"Nice to see you too, little brother," Brian said, also summoning his battleaxe, prepared for the oncoming fight.

"Stop that, you three," Hope commanded. "We don't need to fight here right now. How about we try focusing on the problems at hand and worry about our differences later?"

"Fine," Peter said.

"Truce," Tyler agreed, holding his hand out to Brian.

He dismissed his DigiBlade and took the other boy's hand. "I don't think we've ever been properly introduced. My name is Brian. This is Hope, Gatomon, and Agumon."

"Tyler," he said back. He then pointed at the digimon in turn, "My partner, DemiMeramon, and Peter's digimon, Dorumon."

"What is that?" Peter asked, gesturing towards the machine on the other side of Hope and Brian.

"Dunno," Brian responded. "Just found it. We'd been following a signal that our digivices had picked up."

"That must be why our digivices also went off then," Tyler concluded. "May I?"

Brian nodded and Tyler walked over to the machine. He too found the console and examined it. "What do you guys make of this?" He asked the others.

"We haven't had enough time to figure out what we make of it yet," Hope answered.

Voiced could suddenly be heard off in the distance. "That sounds like Leomon," Brian said.

"Duane?" Tyler called out into the distance.

"Um, yeah," Duane responded sheepishly. "Who is that?"

"Duane!" Tyler called and ran towards the voices. It was so dark that he nearly ran into his friend. "Duane!" he yelled again as he embraced Duane tightly. "I've missed you! How have you been?"

"Hungry and tired mostly," he laughed. "The Wastes are dangerous and we've met some interesting characters out there."

"Tell me about it," Tyler replied.

"Hey Tyler," Christina greeted him cautiously. Tyler hadn't yet noticed her in the darkness.

"Christina, I... you're... hey," Tyler sputtered. He ran over to her and embraced her quietly for a long moment. After awhile the two of them let go of each other, held hands, and walked back to the others with Duane, Leomon, and Lunamon traveling behind.

Left behind, Brian and Hope began chatting with Peter. "So what is that thing with you?" Brian asked, addressing Doggymon.

"He's a friend. Sort of. His name is Doggymon," Peter replied. "I've been trying to fry him up for food for awhile but its a little difficult"

Brian laughed. "Your dinner causing you a few little problems, little brother?"

"Shut up," Peter said stiffly, dismissing the conversation. Just then, Tyler came back with Duane, Christina, and digimon in tow.

"Duane! Christina!" Hope exclaimed excitedly.

"Glad to see you four are okay," Brian added. "It's good that we're all together now. We're stronger this way, safer."

After explaining the current situation to Christina and Duane, they all began excitedly swapping stories of the events that had transpired to each of them. Each one in awe and wonder at the prowess of each others abilities. They truly had all become stronger in many ways since they had last seen each other. After the stories, they began discussing the box they had found and what to do with it.

"Well does anybody know what it does?" Tyler asked.

"Not yet no," Brian replied. "It has a console and a digivice access though."

"Well, we're never gonna know what it does until we turn it on!" Peter said hopefully.

"Does recklessness run in the family or something?" Hope asked. "Seriously, what if its dangerous or something?"

Meanwhile, Duane was taking a look at the machine. He ran his hands over it, looking for any access panels for which he could take a look at the inside from. The casing seemed pretty solid though, not even a seam where two pieces were welded together. The case was like one solid object. He then tried the the control console and seeing if he could decipher the purpose of any of the keys, but it was unfortunately all in Digicode.

"Anything Duane?" Brian asked over his shoulder.

"Nope, not yet. Seems pretty solid. I think it's above me really." Duane took a step back and scratched his head. "I could try pressing buttons if you want."

"Do it," Brian replied authoritatively. Hope turned her head away, knowing full well she wasn't going to convince anybody to leave it be.

Duane began pushing a few buttons, and for a few seconds nothing happened. Then the machine suddenly lit up with holographic interface above it and the face of a beautiful armored angel woman. "Real World dimensional access console activated. Please insert authorization code: LIGHT via chosen child digital interface device to activate portal initiation sequence."

"Whoa, wait," Brian's head jerked around the see the machine better. "Real World... portal... This thing can take us home?!

Everybody was instantly interested. "We should activate it then!" Tyler said. "We could get off the island and then afterwards find a way to regroup with Billy."

"Maybe we should wait for Billy to arrive on his own," Peter suggested. "He's bound to have picked up the signal as well after all.

"We can go home..." Brian said stunned. "We can put the Digital World behind us and go home..."

"This sounds too simple and convenient," Hope said. "This was too easy. We were captured by the Dark Masters and they put us on this island, probably to play with us before they kill us. I don't trust this."

"Hope, it's a portal home! It doesn't matter what the Dark Masters want anymore! We can go home!" Brian defended.

"Christina, please tell me you agree with me on this one!" Hope begged.

"I'm not sure," she replied. "It does seem rather convenient."

"No more convenient than when Billy just happened to have a digiport in LadyDevimon's castle. Remember that?" Brian argued back.

"Yeah I do! And do you remember what happened? Digimon started pouring into the Real World and the Dark Masters got set loose!" Hope yelled.

"I'm so tired of you undermining my leadership!" Brian yelled back. "Since day one you have argued every little point with me and I have always managed to get us out of trouble!"

"And right back into more trouble too! Maybe it's time we stopped following your leadership!"

"Well we need your digivice to activate the machine! It wants the digivice of Light and that's yours. If you don't activate the machine, then I'll take your digivice from you and do it myself!" Brian was fuming now. Why couldn't she see how good of a thing this was for them? They found their escape after so long of searching and now she just wants to abandon it?

"You touch her,"Gatomon threatened, "And it will be the last thing you do!" she positioned herself defensively in front of her Tamer.

"Console Activation cannot be aborted," the hologram spoke. "Energy levels are now building, self destruct is imminent. T-minus thirty seconds to core overload and self destruct."

"Oh shit," Peter cried.

"We don't have a whole lot of options anymore," Tyler urged Hope.

"Do it Hope!" Brian demanded. "We either die here in this explosion, or we go home. Take your pick."

Defeated, Hope begrudgingly made her way to the console and pulled out her digivice. She took one last look at all of her friends, knowing full well that something was wrong here. This console was just wrong, but she had no choice. As she began pushing her digivice toward the space provided, there was a commotion as Gabbie and Dobermon pushed their way into the clearing. She was holding an injured DemiDevimon.

"Don't do it!" She yelled at Hope. She was too late though. In Hope's surprise she dropped her digivice and it landed directly where it needed to. Light poured out of the insert and the hologram dissolved.

"Digiport initializing. Core levels lowering." The hologram's voice sounded over a timer that now appeared. "T-Minus forty eight hours until stabilization is achieved and contact with Real World is established." The console then opened up and clamps came out of the sides, sinking into and gripping the ground beneath.

"Oh, no, I'm too late," Gabbie spoke softly.

"What's going on Gabbie? What's happening?" Hope asked.

"It was a trap set by the demons the whole time! Billy and I were captured but I escaped with DemiDevimon and Dobermon. Billy didn't get out though. We thought Brian already knew we were captured though, I'm surprised it took me so long to find you guys."

"Why would I know?" Brian asked.

"Wasn't it your missiles that freed us?"

"I don't remember..." Brian thought back to the last fight with MadLeomon, when MetalGreymon's circuitry was shorted and the missiles were launched unexpectedly.

An evil laugh was heard above them as the half demon, half angel digimon called Lucemon floated down into view. "You foolish humans played right into our trap. Now that you are all here and present, we will kill you and invade the human world!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Brian said summoning his DigiBlade. "Agumon!"

"I can't digivolve Brian," Agumon groaned. "I still haven't eaten yet... I have no energy."

"It doesn't matter anyway," Lucemon said with pride. "We have you utterly surrounded with no chance of escape."

"They always say that," Duane mused, "right before something really out of the blue happens and saves us."

And with that said, there was a flash of light and beams of energy began firing from the sky, striking the demons surrounding them. "Quickly!" a deep masculine voice sang out over the now ensuing battle. "Rescue the children! Grab the machine!"

"Sir!" an angel spoke. "The machine has been activated! It cannot be moved now."

"Damnit," the first angel spoke. "Take the children and cover our escape then!" At the snap of fingers, angels had swooped down and picked up every one of the Tamers and their digimon and began flying them upward into the sky.

XXX


	49. Heated Debate

As Brian opened his eyes from the initial shock of being picked up by an angel from the middle of a war zone that appeared almost out of nowhere, he could see the sun beginning to rise ahead of him. As the orange, pink, and dark blues began emerging, so did another sight which he did not expect. Shimmering into existence as if it were a mirage was a city ahead of him. The city was pearl white and clean, with tall spires and citadels that stretched further into the sky, each one taller than the one before, with the tallest in the middle. The most astonishing thing was that it was floating high above the sky, hidden within the clouds. With the way the wispy, shimmering quality the city possesses along with the the design of the underside of the city, it was perfectly disguised within the clouds and could not be seen at all.

The air was crisp and cold and water began to condensate on his skin in small droplets as they passed through the clouds, miles above the ground and battle below. The angel digimon flew gracefully around the city until dropping the children and their digimon off into a courtyard next to the tallest spire in the center of the city. Graceful white steps led the way to two very large doors into the spire. The doors swung open and three large digimon came out and began walking down the steps towards the Tamers. The digimon leading the party was male, with eight large white wings and heavy blue plate mail armor. Not an inch of his skin could be seen beneath the magnificent armor. The other angel, a female, also had eight wings and wore similar blue armor as the leader. She carried a large elegant spear and an ornate buckler shield strapped to her left arm. The third angel wore no armor and look somewhat akin to a large rabbit instead. He had large ears that ran behind him with a holy ring, similar to Gatomon's, on each of his ears. With poise and authority, the three of them met the Tamers and the angels who brought them here.

"D'arcmon, what is happening here?" The leader demanded.

"The machine was activated, Master Seraphimon," a female angel responded. "We could not stop them."

"I knew we shouldn't have put so much trust into the abilities of human-type digimon," the rabbit angel said.

"Stay your tongue, Cherubimon," Seraphimon spoke calmly but sternly. "D'arcmon, I want you to take more troops down the the battlefield and hold the line on the machine. We must not allow the demons to take control of the mountain. And take some of the holy beast digimon with you as well. I want Pegasusmon and Nerfertimon on the front lines as well some Liamon to support and flank. That ought to keep Cherubimon happy for awhile."

"Yes sir!" D'arcmon flew off into the sky at that point to go collect the rest of the troops.

"Piddomon, what are these humans doing here?" the woman angel asked of another nearby angel, one that looked much like Angemon yet with less wings and a purple sash instead of blue.

With a clumsy salute, the angel replied, "My lord, Ophanimon, these are the chosen Tamers. These are the Eight."

There was some hushed whispers from the three archangels on in front of them all. Then, Seraphimon spoke, "Are you sure?"

"Yes we are," Piddomon. "They have the digivices, we saw them holding the DigiBlades, and she is the one who activated the machine. Only the Light could do that," he gestured toward Hope.

"What is it?" Hope asked. "What did I do? What is so important about this machine?"

"You human fools were pawns in the demons plan all along," Cherubimon spat. "The machine opens a portal into the human world."

"I knew it!" Brian exclaimed. "Let's go back and then we can go home!"

"It isn't quite that simple," Ophanimon cautioned. "There is a battle raging on on the ground. If the demons manage to gain control of the mountain when the portal opens, then they will go through into the human world and destroy it. There will be a hell on earth the likes of which you cannot fathom. The world will burn and plunge into a thousand years of darkness ruled by the demons. And it was you who have allowed this to happen."

"I-I'm sorry," Brian sputtered. "I didn't know."

"The ignorance caused by your humanity is no excuse for the havoc you have deployed," Cherubimon said.

"We'll stop them!" Brian put his fist up and turned to the other Tamers. "Right guys? We'll go back down and join the fight and stop them from entering the our world!"

"You are in no condition to fight," Seraphimon stated. "You are worn, tired, hungry, and dirty. You bear no armor and quite frankly lack any offensive or defensive training required to fight alongside my angels."

"We can fight!" Tyler replied.

"And you have no right to speak," Ophanimon barked and then gestured to him, Peter, and Gabbie. "You two have darkness inside of you, and the girl comes to us bearing a demon child! By all rights, none of you should even be here!"

"I apologize my liege," an angel beside the Tamers spoke. "It was I who ordered they be brought here. They were the Chosen Eight after all. I thought perhaps they could help."

"MagnaAngemon," Ophanimon started. "I believe they have helped enough as it is. Besides, they are weak, so many of them already corrupted by darkness, and number merely seven. They threaten the boundaries between the Real and Digital World as well as the very health and vitality of their own world while they allow our world to continue to sink into a barren wasteland. The Wastes even touch here on this sacred island. These are not the Eight. The DigiBlades are the Eight incarnate, but they have chosen their wielders poorly."

"Hey! You take that back!" Brian demanded. "My friends have done all that they can! They have made every right choice to the best of their abilities and I could not have survived half as long as I have without them! These are good people and each one embodies the crest they have given to its fullest!"

"The foolish human is cute when he is angry," Cherubimon chuckled.

"That is enough," Seraphimon said with a wave of his hand. "The humans and their digimon will be shown to their rooms. They will have no part in the battle being fought on the surface. They will be fed and allowed full access to the city, at my orders! No go! Spread the word!"

"Yes Master!" the angels surrounding the area acknowledged and began flying off to do as they were told.

"Wait!" Gabbie called after Seraphimon. "Please, help DemiDevimon."

"Why should we help a demon?" Ophanimon questioned, disgusted at the thought.

"Because he saved me," Gabbie responded. "And he's the partner digimon to a dear friend of mine. Please help him recover."

Seraphimon nodded and DemiDevimon was taken away. The Tamers and their digimon were shown into the spires by Seraphimon himself. Ophanimon and Cherubimon separated from the group to attend to their own business.

After being shown to their rooms Seraphimon sat with them at a table as food was brought out. Agumon's eye lit up at the sight of the meal and he and Brian began feasting voraciously. The others also began to dig in, not having had real food in a very long time. The meal was excellent and had everyone's favorites, prepared to perfection.

"This is quite an amazing meal," Christina said, putting her hands together.

"You're all welcome," Seraphimon said to them. "I am pleased to have you here, even if my colleagues are not. Please, tell me of your travels and how you came to be here."

"We fought the Dark Masters," Hope informed him. "It was they who put us on this island, but I don't know why they didn't simply kill us."

"The Dark Masters?" Seraphimon asked in shock. "You survived a Dark Masters attack?"

"Do you know of them?" Duane asked.

"They were a scourge on the Digital World long ago," Seraphimon told them. "I was certain they were gone from this world though. For them to have returned could only have taken an incredibly dark and powerful demon. If they let you survive then it was for a reason, presumably the Dark Masters are working with the demons that we fight against, and that their goals align to some degree. They both clearly wanted you to open the portal into the human world."

"And we played right into their plans," Peter scoffed. "Stupid."

"Yes it was," Seraphimon scolded. "You all should have known better. Enemies do not simply allow the Eight to survive without having a damn good reason. You need to begin realizing that your actions have major consequences on not just one, but two worlds. The future of the worlds hang in the balance and it is your job to protect that future! You all need to start working together as well. My forces say that you were drawing weapons on each other."

"We aren't exactly what you would call a single coherent group," Tyler said.

"There's us five, lead by me," Brian spoke. Hope turned her head away from him, refusing to look him in the eye. "The other three are lead by Billy."

"Where is this Billy at?" Seraphimon asked.

"He was left behind," Gabbie said mournfully. "He and I were captured by the demons in their city. We managed to break out, but Billy risked everything to make sure Dobermon and I got out. He didn't get out of it himself though. They still have him!"

"Then it is likely that they are torturing him, if they have not decided to kill him outright. I doubt they were feeling generous though," Seraphimon said solemnly. "You will need him to defeat the Dark Masters however. And it is very likely that they may join the battle in order to fulfill their plans and enter the real world."

"We need to go back and save him then!" Gabbie declared. "Please let us go save him!"

"Yeah!"Tyler said "We need to go save Billy!" He then high-fived Peter.

"I almost hate to say it, but I agree," Hope told the group.

"I'll follow you guys anywhere," Duane said. Christina nodded her agreement.

"Alright," Brian agreed disdainfully and begrudgingly. "If it's what we need to to to defeat the Dark Masters, then lets do it."

"Not so fast," Seraphimon stopped them. "You are still too weak to be doing much of anything. You lot need to rest first. Aside from that, I will never get the action approved from the other Archangels. We need a majority vote from us in order to do anything with our approval."

"I certainly don't need you approval to do anything," Brian spat.

"Perhaps not, but the others will hunt you down if you were to leave without authorization," Seraphimon said. "I suggest you spoke with Ophanimon after some much needed rest. Convince her and then we'll talk. You had forty-eight hours at the time of activation. That gives you two days to convince Ophanimon, save Billy, and then stop the demons from gaining control of the mountain. I have faith in you all. No off to bed." Seraphimon stood up and began walking out of the room. "Oh and one more thing," he said over his shoulder. "Be careful, my comrades are dangerous and quick to anger. The other Archangels don't like humans. Just be on your guard." He then left.

XXX

After Dobermon and the others had fallen fast asleep, Gabbie got up out of bed and tip-toed out of the room. She searched the Spire until she managed to find a nursing wing in which the injured were kept for recovery. There was a small pink digimon with bug wings floating around the room attending to the injured.

"Um, excuse me," Gabbie said to the digimon. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. Can you help me?"

"Oh sure! My name is Piximon! How can I help you?"

"My friend, his name is DemiDevimon. I wanted to check on him."

"Oh, the demon child. He will be fine after a few hours of rest. He's awake if you want to him." Piximon led her to a small cot where DemiDevimon lay, bandaged, but otherwise fine.

"Oh, hey it's da broad," DemiDevimon spoke painfully. "Can I help you's, sweetheart?"

"It's good to see that you're okay, DemiDevimon," Gabbie said sitting beside him. "I was worried about you.

"I'll be fine," he said in his accent. "Billy di'nt come wit' us, did 'e?"

"No, I'm afraid not. But we're going to go back for him you know. We'll save him, you just wait."

"I wanna go wit' you's guys when you's do, okay?" DemiDevimon pleaded. "I needs tuh make sure dat knucklehead of a partner is a-okay. Never survive ah day wit'out me. Guess he'll hafta though, ain't dat right, from what I been hearin'."

"We'll find him, don't worry," she reassured the digimon. "I wanted to thank you for saving me before. You're a better digimon than you like to believe. You can hide it from everybody else, but not from me. You and Billy both are better than everybody thinks. Isn't that right?"

DemiDevimon blushed and tried to roll over. "Oh shuddap! Whadda you's know's anyway, eh? You's don' know nuthin'." He frowned, though Gabbie couldn't see. "Thanks though. You's ain't half bad yourself's."

Gabbie smiled and stood up. "Get well soon DemiDevimon. We'll need you before too long." She then began walking out of the room.

DemiDevimon watched her leave with a smile on his face. "It's true, Billy coul' do worse than dat broad."

XXX

The next afternoon, everybody had woken up well rested, fed, clean, and ready for the events that lay ahead of them. They had been informed that a meeting with Ophanimon and Cherubimon had been arranged and the seven of them and their digimon made their way to the hearing room where they would meet her.

"Any idea which one we need to watch out for most?" Brian asked. "Of the Archangels, I mean."

"My money is on that Cherubimon," Tyler said. "The way he acts towards humans and human-type digimon, I don't know, it just seems off. Like he really has some sore spots."

"I wouldn't count out Ophanimon though," Hope spoke up. "I'm not so sure I trust her. She seems like shes hiding something to me."

"Do you guys think we need to really watch them?" Christina asked. "I mean, you don't expect them to just outright betray us right?"

"I don't know," Brian said nonchalantly. "They could be dangerous to us, especially if they don't grant our request."

As Brian finished his sentence, they came to the large doors of the hearing room. Upon entering the room, they could see that the hearing room was large, with more than enough space for the children and their digimon as well as a full senate, had they been present. Ophanimon and Cherubimon arrived a few minutes late, apologized, and sat down behind a large desk before which the children stood, prepared to make their request.

"We want to go after a- well I suppose he's a friend of ours," Hope declared. "He is captured by the demons and he needs to be rescued."

"I'll need good reasons to agree to this," Ophanimon told them sternly. "I cannot simply allow seven children and their digimon to assault the most well guarded demon sanctuary in the world. It is incredibly dangerous and may very well only cause to stir the beehive as it were. The demons may retaliate and make renewed efforts to locate and destroy our own city. Lord knows we only have so much time left as it is before we are discovered."

"The Dark Masters are back," Brian stepped forward. "Apparently, only the Chosen Eight can defeat them, and, well, that's us. You might not like it, but we are the Eight and we need all of us to defeat the Dark Masters."

"And we are just supposed to accept your word that the Dark Masters are back? They haven't been seen for centuries. They are destroyed, long ago by the Chosen Eight of that time," Cherubimon said.

"We fought and destroyed Puppetmon!" Gabbie said. "We were all right there and we all saw it!"

"I cannot permit myself to believe you without more proof," Ophanimon told them.

"Agreed," Cherubimon said.

"If you don't let us go then both the worlds are in trouble!" Hope said. "The Dark Masters and the demons will escape the island and attack the human world! What if they don't stop there? There are plenty of weak points back into the D.W.! It will not be hard for them to enter back and destroy this world too, especially if they are working with the Dark Masters!"

"Enough talk of the Dark Masters!" Ophanimon screamed. "The Dark Masters no longer exist!"

"Calm yourself Ophanimon," Cherubimon cautioned. "She is right however, the Dark Masters are a myth that died a long time ago."

"We need Billy, whether you believe us or not," Brian told them. "And we will go down there to get him whether you permit it or not."

"You cannot break our laws!" Ophanimon screamed again, her anger rising. "The arrogance of humans! I cannot believe that you would so blindly disregard our laws in order to traipse about threatening the balance of the worlds! So that you can go and follow some fairy tale enemy! I will not permit this!"

"Ophanimon," Cherubimon said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Stay your temper!"

"Do no tell me what to do, beast!"

"The human-type scum cannot hold her anger is not worthy of being on this council!" Cherubimon chided. "I knew it all along. I knew it would only take time for you human-types to show your true colors."

"I will stop at nothing to uphold the law and justice of the angels!" Ophanimon declared. "Take your hand off of me or I will break it off!" She backhanded Cherubimon in the chest, sending him flying into the wall.

Suddenly, Ophanimon's armor began to darken into a sleek black. Her wings coated themselves in a golden metal and her elegant spear transformed into a wicked scythe. "I will stop at nothing to give justice to those who refuse our laws!"

"I was afraid of this," Cherubimon said. "When an angel digimon gives into certain vices, such as anger, they become fallen angel digimon! This is Ophanimon's Falldown Mode!"

"I have not fallen!" Ophanimon declared. "I am still an angel! I will uphold the justice of the angels!"

"She doesn't realize that she's been corrupted," Hope said to the others. "We can probably still save her!"

"Agumon, I need you to digivolve!" Brian told his partner. "MetalGreymon is too big though, you're gonna have to stay in champion level!"

"Right!" Agumon replied.

Brian then continued, "Alright everyone! This room is good sized but not overly huge! Try to keep some room left over for the fight!"

With a quick flash of light, Angewomon, Cerberumon, Meramon, Dorugamon, Grapleomon, and Crescemon were standing next to Greymon ready for battle. "Four ultimates and three champions. Okay I think maybe we've got this," Brian said.

"We should get out of the way though," Hope said as the digimon leaped into the fray against Ophanimon. "We're more likely to hurt than help anybody when it's already a seven versus one battle."

The Tamers all agreed and retreated from the battle, allowing their digimon to control the fight. "No!"Cherubimon said. "You mustn't fight here! This room is holy ground!"

"Flame Hellscythe!" Ophanimon yelled as she swung her mighty scythe around her, causing fire to arc out and hit the opposing digimon. "Stay out of this Cherubimon if you do not intend to help me!"

As the Tamers exited the room hurriedly, they shut the doors behind them just as another Flame Hellscythe came. The fire collided with the door and licked the edges of the doors as it clicked close.

"They can handle this right?" Christina asked.

"No problem!" Peter exclaimed. "My Dorugamon is tough as they come!"

"We need to do something useful if we aren't fighting," Brian said. "I think it's safe to say that regardless of what happens here, we're going after Billy once this is over."

"We should probably make a plan then," Hope said. "Ophanimon was saying that the demon's keep is really dangerous and fortified."

"For once, I actually agree with you," Brian stated.

"Do we even know anything about the demon's keep?" Duane asked.

"I do," Gabbie spoke. "I escaped from there. I doubt they've moved Billy anywhere away from castle."

"Well, what can you tell us about it?" Tyler prodded.

"It looks like a skyscraper, but that's just a false cover," she began. "The cover can be broken with blasts from MetalGreymon's chest missiles. After that, there is a large grassy field between the wall and the inner castle. There's a sewage access that Billy and I used to get in the first time but the demons had said they were expecting us and left the front doors open."

"So getting in will be easy," Duane said happily.

"Not quite," Gabbie responded. "Their strength is in the amount of demons they have at their command, and the angel-demon we say at the top of the mountain as well. His name is Lucemon and he's sort of like their leader I think."

"There's going to be more fighting then, isn't there?" Christina asked. "I'm so tired of the fighting."

"I'm sorry Christina, but yes probably," Brian placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's likely that we aren't done fighting for awhile yet. But when we're done we get to go home for good."

"What if I don't want to go home?" Peter asked. "What if I like being the powerful bad ass I am here in the Digital World?"

"Don't be stupid, Peter," his brother told him. "You're going home with me."

"No, I'm not, Brian."

"Yes, you are!"

"You aren't my boss here!" Peter yelled, getting into Brian's face.

"I'm still your older brother and I'm responsible for you! If things had gone my way you wouldn't even be here! You're too young!"

"I'm only a year and a half younger than you! You need to start treating me like my age!"

"I'll start treating you older when you stop acting so immature!"

"Alright!" Gabbie yelled. "That's enough!"

Brian and Peter were now toe to toe with balled fists. Brian stood around a foot taller than his younger brother and thicker built, and yet Peter's ability to stand up in this way was something to be admired. Hope got in between them. "Gabbie is right, you two need to back off and cool off."

Peter huffed and stormed off down the hall. Brian too turned his back on his little brother, mumbling angrily to himself.

Suddenly, the door exploded open as Dorugamon came flying through and landed on Peter, knocking him over and rolling. Ophanimon came through as well, charging after the furry dinosaur. She brought up he scythe, ready to slice through both Dorugamon and Peter with one shot.

"No you don't!" Brian yelled as he jumped on her back, gripping his arms around her neck. "That's my brother! I'm the only one who gets to kill him!"

"You idiot shes too strong for you!" Hope yelled after him.

"What is all of the ruckus?" Seraphimon's deep angelic voice rang out over the crowd. Everybody froze in place, including Ophanimon. "Ophanimon, is that you? Explain the meaning of this!"

Cherubimon barreled out of the hearing room, worn and beaten. "Ophanimon has fallen! Her anger has gotten the better of her!"

"Ophanimon, I command that you put down your weapon immediately!" Seraphimon yelled.

"But, Lord Seraphimon, I was merely upholding justice and law! They were threatening to break the laws we cherish!"

"They are trying to save lives and correct their mistakes! Even you should be able to see that in this case, being noble, trumps being lawful. Now stand down! Realize that your anger has caused you to fall from holiness and rise back up to your previous state!"

"I-I-" Ophanimon stammered. Brian climbed down from her shoulders.

"Hey, I get why you're doing what you're doing," Brian said. "But you've got to believe we wouldn't go out of our way to break your laws unless we needed to, and right now we need to."

"You're- I suppose you are right," Ophanimon stated. "I think, I need to go lay down. You have permission to launch an attack on the demons to save your ally." Seraphimon then led Ophanimon away.

"Perhaps I was wrong about you humans," Cherubimon said. "Perhaps not all of you are bad after all."

XXX

Billy lay on his back, chain down to a metal slab suspended in air over a pit. He had been stripped of his shirt, scarf, and armor and now had scars and burns all over his torso from the rigorous torture he had undergone thus far. Lucemon appeared at the edge of the pit and stood so Billy could see him.

"Do you know why I am torturing you Billy?"

The dark boy refused to answer. He simply stared back at Lucemon with hatred.

Lucemon picked up a red hot metal rod and pressed it into Billy's chest. The boy screamed in pain. "It's because I think it's fun."


	50. The War Room

That night, the Tamers were instructed to meet with Seraphimon and Cherubimon in the war room to decide the next course of action. The war room had a large, circular table in the middle of it with many chairs, too many too want to count. On the edges of the walls were placed stands for onlookers to view the meetings from. This particular meeting was private however, and the stands remained empty. When the seven Tamers and their digimon entered the war room, Seraphimon and Cherubimon had already taken their places, spaced apart form each other. The Tamers and digimon took their places in the chairs as well.

"It's good of you to be here," Seraphimon greeted them kindly.

"I don't think anybody requires pleasantries," Cherubimon stated sourly.

"Guess it takes more than one good battle to change a personality," Duane whispered to Christina beside him.

"I can still hear you!" Cherubimon boomed.

"I apologize Chosen," Seraphimon said to them. "This war room was designed so that all spoken word can be heard to all. It helps prevent under the table dealings between allies with betrayal as their intent. It also makes sure that everybody can hear everybody else."

"Handy," Brian remarked.

"Where is Ophanimon?" Hope asked. "Is she going to be okay?"

"Ophanimon is recovering," Seraphimon replied. "We have given her many vaccines to help rid her body of the darkness that pervaded her. She will be unable to join in on the plan making however."

"Speaking of plan making," Cherubimon changed subject, "we need to begin now."

"Yes I agree," Seraphimon said. "Do you Tamers have any plans for entering the demon base?"

"I was sort of figuring that we'd just blast the through, kick some ass, and then get out," Brian said cockily as he leaned back. "It should be a piece of cake with the fire power we sport."

"And you're an idiot if you believe that," Hope told him. "And anybody who follows you is also an idiot."

"I agree with the Light bearer," Seraphimon said, "If maybe not quite so bluntly. Yes your plan is foolish young Brian. You will likely get your entire party killed in a maneuver like that."

"Well what do you suggest then?" Brian spat back. "Its not like there's some convenient back door that we can use to sneak in, right?"

"The demon's castle was once our own, you should know," Seraphimon told them. "And once long ago, it was in the possession of another. In fact, over the centuries, demons and angels have fought for control of this castle. In one previous cycle, in the time of the Eight before you, it's master was a Devimon who had been experimenting with certain properties of darkness and its ability to corrupt and control digimon. We angels came and attacked the castle, however the Devimon escaped with the majority of his research through an underground network of tunnels he had created. We never discovered the locations of any of his Black Gear factories or the tunnels with which connect them all to the castle."

"Looks like it's your lucky day then," Brian said. "I believe we found one."

"You found a factory?"

"Yeah," Hope said. "We fought a digimon called MadLeomon and we fell right into it from above. I was then attacked and controlled by a digimon called Parasimon."

"This Devimon that you mentioned had been using Parasimon to create the Black Gears," Brian finished.

"How do you know all of this?" Cherubimon asked skeptically.

"When we fell in, I downloaded it all into my digivice," Brian said. He pulled it out and threw it across the table to Seraphimon "Here take a look."

Seraphimon began scanning the files in the digivice. "This is amazing!" he exclaimed. "Not only does this have the coordinates for all four of the Black Gear factories, but includes maps of the entire Digital World in real-time! This will guide you through the tunnels."

"That's it? That's our plan?" Brian demanded. "We sneak in? Then what?"

"You locate Billy, deal with any issues that arise, and get out as quick as can be," Cherubimon said.

"Fine," Brian said, annoyed that their plan was only slightly more thought out than his own. "Then after that we will go back an join you lot on the mountain and stop the demons from getting control of the portal device."

"Under no circumstances are you to come to the battlefield,"Seraphimon commanded. "The demons are likely to be preparing reinforcements at their base We need you there to stall them until the remainder of the forty-eight hours is up. It is a necessary task for the success of the mission."

"So what, we're just supposed to sit back and hang with the demons while you get to defend our world, my home?" Brian demanded. "I have every right to protect my world from them! On the front lines! You have no right to keep me from that."

"I have every right to keep you out of our operations to protect the angels that live here!" Seraphimon boomed back. "I will not allow you to jeopardize this mission for your pride!"

"Whatever," Brian said, standing up. "We'll play things your way for now." And he stormed off out of the room.

"Your friend is falling into vices that will corrupt him," Seraphimon said. Hope looked into the Archangel's face. "Be wary of his rashness, he may one day fall into corruption. Even the strongest of us have that weakness. Ophanimon is proof of that."

"But he can pull out of it right?" Hope asked. "I mean, Ophanimon is."

"There is always a chance," Cherubimon told her. "But the difference between humans and digimon is that in digimon, you can view the change physically. You know it's happening. To fix a digimon is simpler as well, codes can be rewritten if given time and skill."

"And what of humans?" Hope asked. "People change, right?"

"They do," Seraphimon consoled. "But human change can only be done by the human himself. Avoiding the corrupting vices that Brian is falling into will require a conscious effort on his part. People change, but they don't change without a fight. Brian seems to have many demons to fight."

XXX

Brian walked through the Spire alone for a long time before he found a balcony. He stood on the edge and looked out over the city. He just wanted to be alone. He was so sick and tired of everybody disagreeing with him and telling him what he can and cannot do. They ask him to save the worlds and protect his home and make sure that everybody stays safe and out of harm and then when he tries to do what he believes is right, they all attack him. The others just don't understand what it's like to be him. All the responsibility and pressure to make the "correct" choice. They just don't understand.

He suddenly felt hands on his sides that hugged him from behind, "Hey champ," a voice rang in his ear. "I missed you."

Brian jumped and then realized who it was. "Lily, I- where'd you come from?"

"It doesn't matter where I came from, I'm here now."

Brian turned around to embrace her back. "I'm beginning to think that you aren't real you know."

"I'm real. Real as anything else. More real."

"I don't even know what that's supposed to mean," Brian said back.

"That's okay. You're troubled, and that's why I'm here." She pulled away a little bit and looked up at him. "Tell me what's bothering you."

"It's the others. They're doubting me too much. I can't keep leading anymore. They don't want me and the don't listen to me anyway."

"What happened?"

"They're all against me," Brian said. "I should be with the angels attacking the demons on the mountain, but instead I'm being forced to stop the reinforcements from arriving at the mountain. It should be reversed. I should be fighting Lucemon and defending my home and the angels should be defending me!"

"So stand up to them," Lily told him softly. "Isn't that what the Crest of Courage is for? To stand up to your enemies?"

"Enemies? The angels?"

"Well yeah, they're stopping you from defending your home. You need to stand up to them. Have courage and do what you know is right. Kill Lucemon. And kill anybody else who stands in your way as well."

"I don't know," Brian faltered. "Do you really think anybody would get in my way?"

"Yes of course. People always try to stop great men from doing great things."

"And I should stop them before they stop me?"

"Exactly, now you're getting it, love." She pressed her face into his chest.

"Love?"

"Yes. Love."

"Brian! Brian! Where are you?" his name sounded from the hallway. It was Gabbie and Hope calling for him.

"You should go see what they want," Lily told as she pulled away and leaped off the balcony.

"Hey! Wait!" Brian called after Lily. "You can't- that's really high up!" when he looked over the edge, she was gone, disappeared. "How weird..."

"Brian!" Hope called again.

He didn't respond. He just kept looking over the balcony. Hope and Gabbie rounded the corner and discovered his hiding spot. "There you are!" Gabbie said as she joined him.

"We've been looking for you," Hope said placing a hand on his shoulder.

He was tempted to leave her hand there, and the shrugged it off, "Well you found me. Now what?"

"We just wanted to talk," Gabbie said.

"You seem really out of it right now, we wanted to make sure you're okay. Do you want to talk?" Hope asked.

"I'm fine."

"Listen, Brian," Hope started. "If it means anything, I agree with you this time. I want to be on the front lines for this one too."

"You do? You mean, you aren't against me? You aren't an- an enemy?"

"An enemy?" Gabbie asked incredulously. "Brian, we've never been your enemies!"

"Don't be so dumb!" Hope smiled. "We just want to make sure that you're doing what's best for you and everybody else. We're trying to look out for you."

"I just... I just want to go home."

"We know you do, Brian," Hope said. "We all do. But you know it won't be the same. Our problems back home will seem so much smaller. Insignificant after everything we've seen and done now."

"I know, that's what I'm counting on," Brian told them. "I really want my problems to be smaller. It's why I ran to the Digital World in the first place. I wanted an escape. But now I just want to go back. Now I just want my life back, what little of it I had."

"You ran away?" Gabbie asked. "What were you running from?"

"It's... I don't think I want to talk about it. I just need to get my brother home and safe. I just wish he wanted to be there with me."

"You two haven't seemed to get along much," Hope noted. "What happened between you two?"

"It's... it's the thing I don't want to talk about."

"You can tell us," Gabbie said.

"I- okay I suppose." Brian sat down with his back against the balcony railing. "See, there's a reason I live with my grandparents. When I was little, my mom... had an accident. It was late at night, and, I don't even know, I didn't believe it, but something happened and then I remember her laying there, her eyes open but there was nothing there. She had died. I was right there when it happened. Saw her die. It was horrible."

"Oh my, Brian I'm so sorry," Hope said. "I had no idea."

"I was the big brother," Brian continued. "I was supposed to protect my brother and sister, ya know? I'm supposed to make sure that bad things don't happen and I failed. I failed and he's resented me ever since I think. Peter has just never wanted to be around me since then. We used to be friends, played together all the time, I looked out for him. And then all of a sudden he no longer wanted me around because he realized that he was alone. When I couldn't protect him, he realized that he couldn't count on anybody to be there for him except for himself."

"But that's not your fault, Brian," Gabbie reassured him.

"I don't even know what is and what isn't my fault anymore. I'm just so sick of being forced to make decisions and those decisions just hurting everything. I feel like I can't do anything right anymore."

"You should talk to Peter about this stuff," Hope said.

"He won't talk to me."

"Have you ever tried?"

"No I suppose I haven't," Brian thought. "I suppose I've always regretted that I haven't."

"Good then it's settled," Hope patted his back. "You need to go talk to your brother."

"Okay," he said, but Brian didn't feel any better.

XXX

"Did you ever talk to Amber about Jogressing?" Eduardo asked Alyssa one day.

"No, she's been really distant recently," Alyssa responded. "I think something is bothering her."

"Wonder what it is." Every day since the Jogressing demonstration, Eduardo and Alyssa had practiced rigorously to fuse their digimon together, but nothing seemed to work. They were in the middle of one such practice session while Gladimon and Dinohyumon sparred several feet away from them.

"I don't know," Alyssa said. "But who knows, maybe we'll figure out this Jogressing thing on our own."

"I'm not so sure," Eduardo said back. "Others have figured it out, but we aren't allowed to talk to them. I'd say almost half the camp now has managed to Jogress. The drill sergeants keep giving us funny looks too every time we fail."

"Funny looks?" Alyssa asked, eying one of the nearby sergeants. "What sort of funny looks."

"If I didn't know any better, it's like its almost...pity. They know something they aren't telling us."

Suddenly, Lord Daemon's face appeared in the sky above them. "Attention Tamers," his demonic voice boomed. "All Tamers who have succeeded in Jogression are to report to my castle immediately. Latecomers are expelled. All other Tamers, return to your cabins. The curfew begins now and lasts indefinitely. Nobody will be outside of their cabins under threat of death." The face then disappeared.

"Uh-oh, that doesn't sound good," Alyssa said.

Eduardo silently moved toward the cabin. The others followed him. When they arrived though, there were only two beds left and Austin and Amber were nowhere to be seen. "I guess that means they've left already," Eduardo surmised.

"I didn't think they'd be leaving for good," Alyssa said sadly.

"Me get bad feeling in stomach," Dinohyumon grunted.

Eduardo nodded in agreement. "I don't think we can stay here much longer, Alyssa."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"It just feels... wrong. All of this. We need to plan an escape." He looked into her eyes and she noted a fiery certainty in them. Eduardo was certain that they were in danger.

XXX


	51. What Lies Ahead

There were only six hours left until the portal activated. The battles on the mountain side had been being raged all day long, but both sides had retreated to deal with their sick and wounded. The battlefield itself was watched closely with demons on one side and angels watching the other, both sides just out of reach of fire. The angels in the floating city were preparing for battle, the beast-types were being fitted for riding gear and the human-types were getting weapons and armor. The atmosphere was tense all around as pep-talks were given and missions handed out. The fight was well prepared for and all that was needed now was for a smooth execution.

The Tamers were to be accompanied by a small group of angels, including D'arcmon and Piddomon from the day before. D'arcmon was to lead the small group and the Tamers were instructed to follow her orders to the letter. Brian did not appreciate being told what to do by somebody from a different faction than his own, but he reluctantly agreed to comply.

Everybody gathered their gear and met in the courtyard of the spire. "Alright troops!" D'arcmon told her company as the Tamers approached. "The idea here is to get the children safely into the castle. This is a fast in and out procedure, understood? This may seem like a small and unimportant task at the moment, but I guarantee you that this is an important task for the fate of the worlds. We are making history here boys, so straighten up and do a good job! I'd fight alongside any of you at the end of the world. Make me proud!" she finished with a salute, and was received with salutes in return.

The angels went back to prepping for the assault, except for Piddomon who walked over to D'arcmon. "I vow to protect you at all costs!" he said to her said clumsily. "No harm shall come to you!"

"I appreciate that Piddomon, but this is hardly the time for your affection," she brushed him off. Piddomon put his head down and began to turn to walk away. "Listen," D'arcmon said. "You're sweet, you know. How about we talk after the mission is complete okay?"

Piddomon's spirits were instantly lifted. "Okay! Yeah! Let's do that!" he then flew off to finish his own preparations.

"Sweet guy," D'arcmon mused. "Foolhardy and clumsy as hell though."

"We're ready to set out whenever you are," Brian told D'arcmon.

"Right, we'll all be ready soon. We'll follow your lead to the factory and through the tunnels, map-holder, but once we're inside the castle, you follow me. Got that?" D'arcmon said authoritatively.

"Yes, ma'am," Brian spat back sourly.

"Good. Now go make yourself useful and stand somewhere out of the way."

"Wait!" a voice called out. "Wait for me!" Suddenly, DemiDevimon fell from the sky and hit the ground. "Ow..."

"DemiDevimon!" Gabbie cried in shock. "What are you doing here? You should be resting!"

"I'm well enough to fetch Billy! There ain't nuthin' you's can do about it neither! I'm goin' an' I'm gonna be there for 'im!"

"Let him come," Brian said. "Any of us would want our digimon to be there when we were rescued."

When the angels were ready, Agumon and Gatomon both digivolved to the Ultimate level. Most everybody followed Brian onto the top of MetalGreymon's head while Angewomon carried Hope. "Alright!" Brian called to his digimon. "We're all situated up here! Let's move out!"

With a grunt and a roar from MetalGreymon, the party was lifted off into the air and toward the area where the Black Gear factory caved in, followed by Angewomon carrying Hope and D'arcmon's angels. They landed and dedigivolved.

"So this is it?" D'arcmon asked.

"I sort of always thought they'd be hidden better than that..." Piddomon said. "I feel a little disappointed in us now."

"Everybody needs to be careful down there, okay?" Brian cautioned. "Last time I was down there we got into some trouble with a mind controlling parasite. It was nasty and I don't know if there were more than the one or not."

"Understood," D'arcmon said and then waved her hand. The angels jumped down, weapons at the ready. "Piddomon, report!"

"All clear so far!"

"Roger," she called back. Then to the Tamers, "Okay its safe enough. Let's go."

the rest of them followed the angels down into the darkness. The factory looked exactly as Brian remembered it, although perhaps the air smelled a little less stale after being exposed to the fresh air for the past few days. The piles of broken gears still littered the area across the now inactive conveyer belts.

"Alright map-holder, tell us where to go," D'arcmon told him.

Brian pulled out his digivice and activated the holographic map. He zoomed into the Digital Keys and then in to their current location. The hologram created a map of the factory right before his eyes. "I think this is the tunnel here," he said, pointing at a corridor that seemed to go off into the distance past the factory. "It looks different than the rest of the factory. This way." The angels, digimon, and Tamers followed Brian toward the tunnel entrance. "Well, it's gotta be behind this wall."

"Any idea how to open it?" Piddomon asked.

"Let me take a look," Duane said. He began running his hands over the wall. When he didn't find anything, tried the floor until he found a small access panel. He opened it and examined the circuits for a moment. "Not a whole lot I can do here, actually."

D'arcmon let out a groan. "Babysitting the worst Eight ever..."

"He I said I couldn't. Leomon, I could I actually use your assistance here."

"Certainly," Leomon said taking a step forward. "What can I do?"

"I need you to place your sword here, between these two boxes here, and then push down really hard, okay?"

Leomon drew his sword and did exactly as Duane had instructed. As he pressed down with his sword, there was a few quick sparks and then some smoke. The wall then swung open slowly.

"Excellent! Thanks Leomon," Duane said.

"Let's keep moving," Brian said and then pushed his way past and into the tunnel.

They walked through the tunnels for hours until they finally came to a large open cavern. The ceiling towered over the group. In the middle of the cavern was a large pool of murky water. Piddomon knelt by the pool and tasted the water. "It's sea water," he reported.

"It must be deep then," D'arcmon said. "Probably leads out into the ocean."

"We need to find Billy," Brian said impatiently.

"Very well," D'arcmon said.

Brian fell back and stood next to his brother. "Listen, Peter-"

"What," Peter growled.

"Hey I just want to talk about things," Brian said, agitated now.

"What things?"

"Us I guess. Why we fight and can't get along. Mom-"

Suddenly there was a splash and a roar. Water went everywhere. "D'arcmon!" Piddomon cried. "Look out!"

"River of Power!" a voice boomed. There was a flash of light and Piddomon jumped to push D'arcmon out of the way, taking the majority of the blast on his back. "You are foolish indeed to have come here, Tamers!"

Before them was a long metal serpent with a cannon for a nose and a wicked horn on the top of this head. He shot out another beam of energy form his nose and dissolved the remaining angels into data. "What is it?" Tyler asked. The Tamers all brought out their digivices, ready for the fight.

"I am MetalSeadramon! The Dark Master of the sea!"

"A Dark Master!" Brian exclaimed. "Now you're dead!"

"Brian!" Hope scolded. "You know that he's too powerful for us to fight without Billy! We need to find him first!"

"Always with Billy!" Brian yelled. "We don't need him! I've got this!"

"Oh don't worry about me," MetalSeadramon assured them. "I was just about to leave actually. See, there's a party going on at the top of the mountain that requires my attention. Adios Amigos!" The giant serpent then spun around and dove back into the ocean waters.

"He's going to the mountain!" Tyler said. "He'll destroy the angels!"

"We've gotta go stop him," Brian agreed. "I'm going back!"

"We can't defeat him without Billy though!" Hope reminded him. "Quit being such a dumb-ass!"

"Then you stay here and save him," Brian said. "But I can't go after Billy when I know that the angels are out there fighting a hopeless battle to save our world from the Dark Masters! I'm going, end of story!"

"Perhaps we could split up?" Gabbie suggested. "Brian leads some of us back to the mountain and helps to distract MetalSeadramon while the rest of us get Billy. That'll buy us some time at least."

"I agree," Brian said. "Who's going to come with me?"

"I will," Duane said first. "Always by your side, Brian! Haven't lead us astray yet."

"I'll come as well," Tyler agreed.

"And me!" Christina added.

"Then Gabbie, Peter, and I will go after Billy," Hope said.

"Fine," Brian said. "Agumon, MetalGreymon. Now!" There was the flash of light form digivolution as MetalGreymon suddenly towered over the party. Brian showed Hope how to get to the demon base form here and then he and the others climbed onto MetalGreymon's head and the behemoth digimon walked to the edge of the water. Brian pulled down his goggles as he readied himself for the water.

"Wait, Brian," Hope called. "I just- be careful okay? Promise you won't do anything reckless or stupid, please."

Brian thumbed his nose. "No promises! But I'll do my best to stay alive! Okay, MetalGreymon, let's go!" The giant bionic dinosaur walked into the water and then dove below. The humans and digimon that accompanied him held their breath and braced for the cold of the ocean.

The remaining Tamers noticed D'arcmon kneeling by the water holding Piddomon in her arms. She was humming softly and stroking his head.

"Is he going to be okay?" Gabbie D'arcmon.

"I don't know," she replied. "He isn't dissolving yet, but-"

"Hey," Piddomon groaned. "I'll be fine. You Tamers need to keep going though. You have a world or two to save."

Hope nodded and then said, "What about you, D'arcmon? Are you coming with us?"

D'arcmon pushed her leg into view. It was horribly mangled from MetalSeadramon's energy blast. "I don't think I can. I'll stay here and take care of Piddomon. You go ahead and rescue Billy. You know where I am, so come back for us."

"Of course," Hope said. "C'mon guys," she said to Peter and Gabbie. "Lets keep going ahead."

XXX

The air felt too stale. Something was off. It was wrong. Eduardo couldn't shake the feeling. The arena had been closed. The training grounds closed. It all just felt wrong. Even the sky itself seemed grayer than usual. He and Alyssa had both agreed that they needed to leave. They planned every day in their cabin how they can get away without being seen or stopped. So far they had not come up with anything that didn't require more luck than anything else.

"They've simply got this place locked down too tightly," Eduardo stated. "We're never going to escape."

"Don't be like that," she said back to him with a smile. "We're just thinking about this wrong is all."

"Well what other ways are there to-" Eduardo paused.

"Ed?"

"Other ways to think about it..." he mumbled to himself. "I think I've just figured out how to Jogress!"

"You- what?" Alyssa was taken by surprise.

"C'mon, we need to get outside!" Eduardo said excitedly grabbing her hand and pulling her up. Suddenly there was a crash and a roar form outside.

"What was that?" Gladimon asked.

"Not good," Dinohyumon grunted.

"We need to get outside," Eduardo said more serious.

Outside, the night sky was red. Many of the cabins were on fire or destroyed completely. There were sounds of screaming and fighting all around them. The entire scene was chaos. Digimon were attacking the camp! The Tamers were rallying to try to fight them back, but the camp was so disorganized and kept apart that they didn't know how to communicate with each other effectively.

As Eduardo looked closer at the fighting, he realized that the attacking digimon all had partners. Each digimon was accompanied by two humans wearing an armored jumpsuit similar to the ones Daemon gave his army. "Alyssa, I think-"

"They're the Tamers who were called to Daemon the other day," Alyssa said. "Aren't they? So, does that mean...?" She couldn't finish her sentence.

"Yeah it means that Amber and Austin are out there too, attacking us." Eduardo saw the look of worry on Alyssa's face, a look mirrored on the face Gladimon as well. "C'mon, we'd better try to escape now. The fighting might just be the perfect distraction for us anyway. We need to be ready for what lies ahead, though. It could be anything."

XXX

The water froze Brian to the bone, but his goggles at least helped him see where he was going. The underwater tunnel was longer than the Tamers would've liked but they managed to find an air pocket before long. The space was small and the Tamers and digimon breathed heavily with their faces pressed against the ceiling of the tunnel, using what precious space they had for breathing. Using their digivices for light, the reflections off of the water were green in hue and colored everything around them accordingly.

After that, they sank back into the water and continued through the tunnels until they finally found an exit. The coral and fish were beautiful, but Brian didn't care. They only thing he cared about was reaching the mountain again and stopping MetalSeadramon from getting into the Real World. MetalGreymon sank to the ground and pushed off hard with his feet, flapping his wings to gain momentum as they rose from the water. They broke the surface into the warm air and MetalGreymon flapped his wet wings harder, trying to get as much of the water off as possible and obtain flight.

As soon as he caught the wind, they were off. The Tamers clothes clung to their skin in wet masses. They were cold and the wind rushing past them did not help. The four Tamers and their digimon held onto MetalGreymon tightly as he flew towards the mountain ahead. The behemoth digimon dropped off the Tamers and digimon on the mountain, as close as he could get to the battle.

"MetalGreymon!" Brian called up to his friend after he had pulled his goggles back up and climbed to the ground. "Fly to the fight and help out! We'll be there soon."

MetalGreymon roared in acknowledgment and then flew off again. Brian drew his battleaxe. Tyler, Duane, and Christina likewise drew their DigiBlades; a katana, halberd, and chakrams respectively. Before they left, their digimon digivolved as well, and soon the Tamers, SkullMeramon, Grapleomon, and Crescemon were all running up the mountain to join the fight ahead.

XXX

Hope, Peter, and Gabbie continued through the secret passageways leading to the castle until they finally came to the entrance. They pushed through the door and found themselves in a kitchen, filled with cast iron stoves, pots, pans, skillets, and other assorted wares. "Any idea where we should start looking for Billy?" Peter asked quietly.

"I would imagine the dungeons," Hope suggested.

"I agree," Gabbie said. "It was too easy for us to escape from the tower last time, so let's start there in the dungeon."

They all agreed and then made their way towards the stairs and began heading downward. "You'd think there would be more demons here," Gatomon said quietly.

"Yeah no kidding," Peter agreed.

Dobermon lowered his ears and narrowed his eyes. "This makes me uneasy, Gabbie," the brutish dog growled.

Gabbie stroked his back softly. "We'll be okay. I've got you by my side." Dobermon seemed slightly less tense, but all the more vigilant.

"I jus' wanna find Billy A.S.A.P.," DemiDevimon said from Gabbie's shoulder. "So, you's needs to start walkin' fastah, ya hear?"

The stone staircase spiraled downward for a long time as the Tamers walked. It seemed to never end. Ignoring DemiDevimon, they remained cautious and slow as they walked down the steps, careful to check every corner for enemies, yet finding none. They eventually found the bottom of the staircase and were greeted by two large wooden doors bound by iron.

"Think this is the place?" Peter asked.

"Let's find out, I say." Hope pushed the doors open slowly, careful not to make it creak as she peered inside. The room inside was dark and smelled musty. A red glow could be seen on the peripherals of her vision however.

"I think it's safe enough," she whispered pushing the door open further and stepping inside. The red glow came from a large pit. Above that pit hung a topless Billy, suspended by chains wrapped around his torso, neck, and limbs. He had burns, bruises, and scratches all over his skin.

"Billy!"Gabbie cried.

DemiDevimon flew off her shoulder and landed on the chains the suspended Billy over the pit. "Geez, boss. You's don' look so good, ya know?"

"DemiDevimon..." Billy grunted. "You all have to get out of here..."

"Don't be stupid," Hope said. "We need you, so we're here to rescue you."

"Hey! Over here!" Peter said. He had located a wooden wheel. "I bet this controls the chain mechanism."

Hope and Gatomon ran over to help Peter turn the wheel to give the chain more slack. As the wheel turned, the chains groaned and clanked as Billy sank further down into the pit. DemiDevimon flew behind Billy and pushed his Tamer over to the edge of the pit where Gabbie helped him out of his chains.

"Can you stand?" she asked, placing his arm around her shoulders.

"I think so," he said. He tried to stand, helped up by Gabbie. Billy grunted with pain and used his free hand to grope at a sore spot on his ribcage.

"Be careful," she said to him gently as she supported his weight. "We'll get you out and to safety, okay?"

"You guys shouldn't have come," Billy grunted. "It's a trap."

"What are you talking about?" Hope asked.

"They wanted you to come after me. They wanted you all to split up."

"What? Why?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, boss," DemiDevimon said. "What's goin' on, eh?"

"The demons knew you'd come for me because you need all of us to defeat the Dark Masters easily. Sure, seven of you could do it. It'd be a lot harder, but you could do it. They didn't want to take chances. They split you up. Why did you think there weren't any demons here? They're heading to the battlefield early! They're going to kill us all here now and you walked right into the trap. Then they're going to kill Brian and the others at the mountain. Then there will be nobody to stop the Dark Masters from taking over the human world, unless Daemon or Lilithmon want to get involved."

"Ah and now the cat is out of the bag," a smooth sinister voice said from a dark corner. Lucemon walked out of the darkness. "It seems as though the entire plan has now been pieced together. You were spared and placed on this island because you were necessary in opening the gate to the real world, and now we have split you up to make it easier to kill you all. The best part is that we only need to kill a few of you all at once in order to be undefeatable. Then my demons, lead by the Dark Masters, will enter your human world and create a new Hell for us to rule over."

"We won't let that happen!" Hope said. "That's our home! Gatomon!"

"Celestial Arrow!" the now digivolved Angewomon yelled as she fired an arrow or purified light.

Lucemon casually knocked the arrow aside with a backhand. "Nice try, but not good enough."

"Hellfire!"

"Metal Meteor!"

The attacks of Cerberumon and DoruGreymon collided with Lucemon. The angel-demon digimon survived the attack without a scratch on him however.

"Please, I am far more powerful than other Ultimate level digimon," Lucemon taunted. "Defeating you will not be nearly as much fun as I would like, but then again we all need to do the boring menial tasks once in awhile, don't we?"

XXX

Brian and the others rushed in to battle to aid the angels against the demon hordes. The four Tamers and their digimon cut down enemies left and right as they ran for the angel's battlefield outpost. Meanwhile, MetalGreymon flew around the mountain breathing fire on enemies and swooping them with melee attacks. When they arrived at the camp, Brian ran past the sentries and burst through the captains tent door. "We have bad news!"

"I thought I told you to finish your mission at the castle!" Seraphimon said angrily. "You are jeopardizing everything!"

"No you don't understand," Tyler said. "This is important."

"There's a Dark Master on his way here, if he isn't here already."

"Oh he's here alright, damnit," Cherubimon said. "No doubt your fault too!"

"We encountered him while in the tunnels on our way to the castle. His name is MetalSeadramon and he killed most of the angels you sent with us and hurt D'arcmon and Piddomon really bad," Brian told them all. "Listen we knew you guys couldn't fight MetalSeadramon by yourselves, so we split up. My group is supposed to hold off MetalSeadramon long enough for the others to rescue Billy and come help us out.

"I advise against this entirely," Cherubimon said.

"We don't have the troops to fight off MetalSeadramon," Seraphimon replied. "There are twice as many demons here as we were expecting. We're losing men left and right and MetalSeadramon is ravishing our army. If these children can at least distract the monster, then I'll allow it."

"I suppose you are right, Seraphimon. But I still don't like it."

Without another word, Brian ran back outside and whistled for his digimon to return. MetalGreymon was there in a flash and climbed onto his digimon, leaving Duane, Christina, and Tyler behind.

"Guess we'll just wait here until Brian can ground MetalSeadramon," Duane suggested.

"Perhaps we should fight demons?" Chrstina suggested.

"No, we need to be ready for MetalSeadramon at a moments notice," Tyler said. "I think we can wait until they get close enough and then start firing."

Brian pulled down his goggles and held on tightly to MetalGreymon's horn as the duo flew towards the Dark Master. "This is it, boy," Brian said to MetalGreymon. "We'll show them all what we can do."

XXX


End file.
